Forever My Love
by georgiagal
Summary: My way of fixing John and Natalie
1. Chapter 1

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I'm a huge fan of John and Natalie. And I just hate the way John is being written on General Hospital. So I have decided to fix it, well in my own little world anyway. This is my first attempt at writing for Jolie. It is just what I think should happen and a way to bring Natalie to GH so my couple can get back together. This takes place just after Jason Morgan is presumed dead and it follows on with what has happened on GH so far. John is still in Port Charles thinking that Natalie has moved on and doesn't want anything to do with him. Natalie is still in Llanview but not everything is as it seems with her. Hope you enjoy. Please review and let me know what you think. I don't own the characters only ABC does.

I'm putting this in the One Life To Live section because I eventually plan to put them back into Llanview.

FOREVER MY LOVE

Chapter 1

Port Charles

The moon played on the surface of the inky, black water as John stood staring off into the distance across the harbor. His thoughts were on the two people who meant the most to him in his life, his little boy Liam and the woman who should be his wife. Taking out his phone he stares as the picture of his family. Touching their faces, he whispers, "I miss you guys so much."

"Talking to yourself, John?" a voice said behind him.

Startled, John whirled around to face the intruder. "Anna, you scared me. What are you doing down here this time of night?"

"I could ask you the same thing. But to answer your question, I have a crime scene not to far from here you know. I'm still trying to figure out what happened down here the night Jason Morgan was killed. Now answer my question. Why are you talking to yourself?"

John gives her a smirk, "Talking to myself? Now why would I be talking to myself? Do I look like I've lost my mind to you?"

"No, but I know what I heard. And you do look like something is bothering you. What's going on?"

Sighing, John moved away to stare back out across the water. "Ah, nothing really, just have a lot on my mind."

Anna moves next to him on the edge of the dock. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Cutting his eyes around at her, John says disbelieving, "Do you not know me at all? Let me introduce myself. I'm John McBain and I don't talk"

"Funny," Anna laughs. "Yes, I know you don't like to talk, but sometimes it helps to talk to a friend when you have a problem. I could be that friend if you want me to."

"Thanks, but talking is not going to change anything. I'm still going to be here and my family is still going to be at home. Talking is not going to get me any access to my little boy. Talking is not going to get Natalie to forgive me and let me come home to them. Talking is not going to do anything but make me madder at the situation I caused." John told her.

"Things aren't any better between you and Natalie?"

John shakes his head. "She won't even talk to me. Every time I call her, some woman claiming to be her assistant answers her phone. I haven't talked to Natalie herself since I came home and found her and Liam gone. But the woman makes sure I know how Natalie feels about me. That she has moved on to someone who can provide for her and Liam in ways that I never could. Her exact words are that I can't provide for my family in ways that they have grown accustomed to on my civil service pay check."

"Wow, that's a little harsh, and doesn't really sound like the Natalie you have told me about."

"I know. And that is what is so confusing. Natalie has never cared about money. She has always

had trust fund the entire time we have been together, but she never used it. She always preferred to work and provide for herself. She even worked at a bar as a waitress to support herself before she got into forensics. Money was never important to her. I don't understand how she has changed so much. She doesn't even want me anywhere near Liam, says its for his own good if I just stay away. That's just not like her."

"Could someone be putting her up to this?" Anna asked.

John sighs. "I don't know. But I don't see how someone could be. When I first received the restraining order, I thought for sure that Clint was behind it. That Natalie was just really angry at me and Clint was feeding that anger to get me away from her. He never thought I was good enough for her and was always trying to get her to leave me. So I thought that in time that her anger would fade and she would stand up to her dad and let me back into Liam's life. I knew it would be harder to get her to forgive me and let me into her life again, but she knows how much I love my son and that I'm a good dad. She grew up without her family and I know she doesn't want that for Liam, so I thought she would eventually relent, you know. But its went on for so long that I just don't see Natalie letting someone control her for so long. Now it just seems to be getting worse and I don't know how to fix it."

"How is it getting worse?"

"She wrote me a letter, sent it to me through the lawyers. I had such hope when I saw that letter. My hands actually shook while I was trying to open it. I thought she had finally decided to let me know how she was feeling and maybe, just maybe, she was ready to talk to me just a little. But when I read the letter my whole world shattered."

"What did she say?"

John runs a hand through his hair. "It seems she has moved own. She's found someone new. Said she didn't mean for it to happen but it did and she just thought I should know. And that she thought it was best if I just stayed away."

"I'm sorry, John."

"That's not all. She said if I ever cared for Liam at all, that I wouldn't fight the restraining order. But I can't do that. I can't lose my son. And she should know that. I've always thought she knew me better then anyone. So she should know that I would never give up on my son. I may have lost her love because of me being stupid and kissing Sam right here on this dock, but I won't lose my son." John states empathically.

"What are you going to do?" Anna asks

John shakes his head. "I don't know yet. I have Alexis fighting the restraining order but things have just gotten a little bit more complicated."

"What happened?"

"I just received a call from Bo Buccannan."

"The LPD Police commissioner?"

"Yeah, my boss, supposed friend and Natalie's uncle. It seems that the LPD will be hiring a new chief of detectives, one that will not let his personal life interfere in with his job. So now I'm jobless. How am I suppose to prove to some judge that doesn't even know me that I'm fit to be a father to my son when I don't even have a job to support him? Clint Buccannan has all the money in the world to hire lawyers or buy judges and I don't even have a job so now I look like a dead beat dad." John explains.

"Maybe I can help with that."

"How?"

"I can give you a job. Now wait a minute, this is not a hand out," Anna says when John started to protest. "The Chief of Detectives position has just opened up at the PCPD and the Mayor thought you would be perfect for the job."

John shakes his head. "You should give the job to Dante. He's a good detective and deserves the chance of moving up in the department."

Anna nods. "Dante is a good detective and would probably do a good job. But the mayor and I want someone with more experience. The Mayor was impressed with the way you handled things during the toxin scare. She wants you for the job because of that and because of your experience in the FBI and in Llanview. She has faith in you and so do I. I would love to work with you again. I think you are the best man for the job."

"Ah, I don't know if I want to officially want to leave Llanview yet. Don't think I want to be that far away from Liam all the time. Maybe I can't see him right now, but to be a couple states away permanently, I just don't know." John says.

"Well look at it this way. Take the job for now and it would give you a way to show the court that you can take care of Liam. And then when things change and you can see Liam, then you can always quit and go back to Llanview. How does that sound?"

John shakes his head. "I wouldn't want to take the job if I can't give it 100%. I wouldn't want to let you or the Mayor down after you both put so much faith in me."

"You wouldn't John. You do the best job you can while you're here, and then if you have to go back to Llanview you can with no hard feeling." Anna was quiet, giving John a moment to think. "So what do you say? Will you come work for me?"

John stares out at the water again for a moment before turning to face Anna again. "You or the Mayor won't give me any grief if I have to go back home at a moments notice?" Anna shakes her head no and John sticks out his hand to her. "I promise I'll do the best job I can, but you should know my home will always be in Llanview with Natalie and Liam."

Anna shakes his hand. "Welcome aboard. I will be proud to work with you as long as I can."

John nods as Anna releases his hand and walks off. Taking out his phone again, John once again looks at the picture of his family. "This isn't forever guys. I promise that as soon as I can I will be back home with you. No matter what, Natalie, we will be a family again."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Llanview

Natalie's eyes darted around her as she crept down the hall, knowing that if she got caught there would be hell to pay. But she just had to see her son. They hadn't let her see him in two days for whatever reason and she refused to let it continue. This was her son and she'd be damned if she let someone tell her when or if she could see him. Finally making it to the nursery, she smiled as she walked in seeing her precious little boy in his bed sound asleep. Reaching Liam's crib, Natalie gently caresses his hair. "I love you so much, my precious boy. I've missed you so much. Don't worry baby, Mommy is going to fix this. I'm not going to let them keep you from me any more."

"Natalie, what are you doing in here?"

Biting back a small screech, Natalie whirls around to face her sister. "Damn it, Jess! Don't scare me like that! You know I'm not suppose to be overly excited."

"Yeah, I do know that. Just like I know that you are not supposed to be out of bed either. So what are you doing in here?"

"I just wanted to see my son. They haven't let me see him in two days. And the last time I was allowed to see him it was only for a few minutes. I miss him. I heard him crying earlier so I know he is missing me too. He's still just a baby, he needs his Mother."

Jessica moves up beside her sister and pats her hand. "I know that sweety, but you need to rest. We don't want anything to happen to you."

"I'm fine," Natalie whispers defiantly. "How would you feel if they were trying to keep you away from Bree and Ryder? I bet you wouldn't like it either."

"You're right I wouldn't. But you have been so sick that we are just trying to help you out." Jessica explains.

"He's my son and I should be the one making decisions for him. I should get to decide when and how much time I spend with him." Natalie says stubbornly.

"I know, Natalie. I know," Jessica said soothingly. "And maybe in a few weeks you will be well enough to make all those decisions yourself ." Placing her arm around Natalie's shoulders, Jessica turns her towards the door and starts to lead her out. "But for now, let's get you back to bed before Dad or Gretchin figure out you snuck off."

"Too late." Their dad's voice stops the girls in their tracks as they looked ahead of them to see Clint, Vicki, and Gretchin walking towards them.

"Hey dad. What are you doing up? It's late, you know. You should be in bed." Jessica asks guiltily, trying her best to shield Natalie.

"Yes, Jessica, it is late. So late in fact that your Mother and I were in bed asleep when Nurse Gretchin came to me saying that our little patient here had escaped. Natalie, what are you doing out of bed?" Clint asked moving towards his red headed daughter.

"I just wanted to see my son." Natalie explained. "As his Mother, I should have the right to see him anytime I like."

"You do, Darling," Vicki said trying to placate her. "But all you had to do was ask and we would have brought him to you."

"I did ask! For the last two days I have done nothing but beg Attila the Hun over here to bring him to me." Natalie said pointing at Gretchin. "But she refused. She said that she would let me see him when she wanted to. He's my son. No one gets to tell me when I can or can't see him."

Nurse Gretchin looks over at Clint for backup. "I was only following orders, Mrs. Buccannan. Mr. Buccannan said he didn't want Miss Natalie overly excited. And the last time Liam was with her, Miss Natalie's blood pressure was elevated."

"It was not, you incompetent idiot. You didn't even check my blood pressure. All you saw was that my face was flush and you took it upon yourself to tell me I couldn't see my son for a week." Natalie says hostilely. "And yes my face was flushed but that was because Liam and I were playing. I felt better at that moment then I have in months."

"I was just following Mr. Buccannan's orders. He told me to keep Liam away from you for a few days," Gretchin defends herself.

"Clint!" Vicki exclaims in shock.

Natalie looks over at her Dad. "You told her to keep my son away from me? Why? What gives you the right to do that?"

"Clint, was that really necessary?" Vicki asks.

"Dad why would you do that?" Jessica asks in shock.

Clint walks up to Natalie and grips her arms. "Natalie, Sweetheart, I just want you to be well again. After everything you've been through lately, I just think your health should come first. I just want to see you well again so you can be the Mother Liam needs you to be."

Natalie jerks away from her Father. "The kind of Mother Liam needs is a Mother that is there for him everyday. One that can play with him. One that can hold him when he is sick. And he needs one that is there to help him through the fact that his Father seems to care more about some two bit floozy then to make himself available enough to come around him any more. And I can't be that Mother if you or anyone else is keeping me away from him. From now on, I make the decisions for myself and my son. And if I think you are even trying to keep me from him again, I'll leave with him and you will never see us again! Do you understand me?"

" My men won't let you leave, Natalie. Now calm down. You getting upset is not good for the..." Clint starts to try to placate her.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" Natalie interrupts. " I know what's good for me. You can't keep me a prisoner any more. This is my life and I will run it the way I want to. I'm fully capable to make my own choices."

"Yes, you are so good at making choices, aren't you? Like the choice you made to be with John McBain. That worked out well for you didn't it. He's the reason all of this started in the first place. If you hadn't been so upset about him cheating on you, then maybe you wouldn't have almost died." Her Dad hurls back.

"Don't you dare bring up John." Natalie fires back hurt. "Yes, he hurt me. And, yes, I made a bad decision because of what he did that almost cost me a lot. But I'm fine now and I think its time I start living my life again. I also think its time Nurse Gretchin over there is relieved from her duties."

"Well I don't and neither does your doctor. And until he does I will continue to make the decisions for you. Right now I think its time for you to go back to bed. You've had enough excitement tonight. You need to let Nurse Gretchin help you back to bed." Clint said, reaching out to pull her towards the Nurse.

"No!" Natalie jerks back. "She's not to come near me."

"Natalie," Clint started.

"Clint," Vicki interrupted him. "Why don't you back off for a bit. Jessica and I will help my daughter to bed. You and the good Nurse can retire for the night."

"But she is being paid to take care of Natalie. Why don't we let the woman do her job and go back to bed?" Clint said.

"Well if you don't mind, I would like to take care of my daughter myself for awhile. Now go to bed. I'll be in later." Vicki told him with anger in her voice as she and Jessica started to lead Natalie off, leaving Clint alone with the Nurse.

After his family walked away, Clint turned to the Nurse. "What do you think you are doing? You are suppose to watch her. How could you let her sneak off like that?"

"I was watching her, sir. But I can't keep my eyes on her all the time. She was determined to see her son and she doesn't take no for an answer very easily. Besides, I was busy." Gretchin explained.

"What could you possibly be doing that was more important then keeping my daughter safely in bed?" Clint asked.

"I was erasing calls from her phone. McBain called again a few hours ago. I intercepted the call like usual but she has been asking for her phone. So I thought it best to erase the call history before she got her hands on the phone and saw that he had been calling her after all." Gretchin said.

"Good," Clint said. "She can't find out that he has been calling her. She is a smart girl. It wouldn't take much for her to figure out what I've been doing. If she does, I will lose everything." Clint told her before they went their separate ways.

Down the hall Vicki and Jessica were helping Natalie into bed. Natalie looked around the room she had called hers since she came to Llanview and realized she just didn't fit any more if she ever did. Looking up at her Mother and Sister, she grabbed each one by the hand. "You have to help me get out of here."

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	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Down the hall Vicki and Jessica were helping Natalie into bed. Natalie looked around the room she has called hers since she came to Llanview and realized she just didn't fit any more if she ever did. Looking up at her Mother and Sister, she grabbed each one by the hand. "You have to help me get out of here."

Vicki and Jessica looked her in shock. "What do you mean get you out of here?" Jessica asks.

"Just exactly what it sounded like. I have to leave here and you guys need to help me." Natalie explained.

"Have you lost your mind. You can't leave." Jessica said. "You've been..."

"I'm fine!" Natalie interrupted. "I swear to God I'm going to punch the next person who tells me how sick I am! I'm not sick any more."

"Sweetheart, I know you are feeling better now, but you could have died." Vicki tries to placate her. " We just want to make sure you are completely well and have all your strength back before you tax yourself to much."

"Mom, I'm ok now. The accident was months ago. I feel stronger everyday, more then capable of taking care of myself and my son." Natalie says.

"Honey, I know you think that and maybe you are right. But we need to start you out slow. I'll talk to your dad. I'll see to it that you are allowed out of bed more and are allowed to spend as much time with Liam as you want. And then in a few weeks, maybe you will be able to do what ever you want."

"Dad is not going to let that happen! You heard him. He's going to continue to make all my decisions. He doesn't want me to get any better because then he can't control me." Natalie complained.

"You know that's not true, Natalie," Vicki scolded her daughter. "Your father loves you. He just wants what is best for you. All he is doing is trying to make sure you follow the doctor's orders and stay in bed."

"Doctor," Natalie snorted in disgust. "That so called doctor doesn't know what he is talking about. He's nothing but a two bit quack who doesn't know a sick person from a well one."

"Natalie, Doctor Smith is a credited doctor with the proper credentials to prove it. We were lucky that your Father was able to find him to take care of you." Vicki defended her husband.

"And why did he do that?" Natalie asked. "Why did he have to find some doctor to take care of me when I could have stayed in the hospital?

"Dad just wanted you to have the very best care possible." Jessica explained. "He felt like this was the best place for that."

"Why, Jessica, why? With all the doctors and nurses working in the hospital, with all the equipment they have there, why is this the best place for me to get the care that I need?" Natalie asked."

"We all thought it was best for you to be around the people that love you. That maybe you would get better faster this way." Jessica said.

"All of you or just Dad?" Natalie asked. "I would be willing to bet that the two of you wanted me to stay in the hospital and Dad talked you into bringing me here." Noting the guilty looks passing between her Mother and sister, Natalie nods her head in victory. "See I told you. Me being here with a private nurse and doctor was all Dad's idea. Have either of you ever asked yourself why that is? Why did he want me here so bad that he was willing to ultimately risk my health to bring me home?"

"Honey, I don't think that he thought he would be risking your health with the medical care he was able to provide for you here." Vicki stalled.

"You didn't answer my question, Mom. Why was it so important to him that I be here instead of the hospital?"

Vicki sighs lowering her face so she didn't have to meet her daughter's eyes. "I don't know, ok. I don't know why he thought it was so important that you be here. But he must have had a good reason because he insisted you be brought here. And it must have been a good idea because its working. You are getting better everyday. I can see your condition improving everyday."

"Yeah, Mom, you can see it, but Dad can't. He's unable to see that I can't just hide here in this room while decisions are being made for me and my son. I have to get my life back. I have to figure out exactly when and why my life went to hell and I have to try to fix it. And Dad doesn't want me to." Natalie explains.

"He does, Natalie." Jessica said. "Dad loves you."

"I don't doubt that Dad loves me, I know he does. I also know that he wants to control me and to keep me from doing anything that is going to give me a little bit of independence from him."

"That's not true Natalie." Jessica whined.

"Really, then why is he keeping everyone away from me? Because that is the reason he wanted me here, so he control who I see and talk to." Natalie says.

"He's not." Vicki defended her husband weakly.

"Then why hasn't he allowed anyone come to see me? The only people I see are the two of you, Dad, that quack of a Doctor, the idiot Nurse, and on occasion, when Dad decides to allow it, Liam. No one else is allowed in here. Not my brothers, not Uncle Bo, no one. Why is that?" Natalie questioned looking between her Mother and her sister. When neither said anything, she continued. "And another thing, where is my phone? Have either of you seen it? I keep asking for my phone so I can at least call and talk to some of my friends, but they won't let me have it. They keep saying that it will only upset me to see that John hasn't called."

"Well they are right, Honey. It would only upset you and the Doctor has told us to make sure that you are kept calm. He said that becoming upset is bad for your condition." Vicki tries to explain.

"What condition? Do either of you actually know, because I don't? I don't have a clue what is suppose to be wrong with me besides the obvious. They have never told me. I'm not allowed to see my medical files. The Doctor won't talk to me about how I'm doing. He will only talk to Dad. And of course, Dad won't tell me anything. When I ask, all he says is that I need to stay calm and not worry about anything, to let him take care of things. But I have to know what is wrong with me. So if either of you know, can you please tell me?" Natalie asks.

Vicki sighs. "No, we don't know. He hasn't said exactly. But we all know you need to rest because of the..."

"Because of the baby," Natalie finishes for her. "Yes I need to rest because I'm in a high risk pregnancy. I know that, I'm not stupid you know. I would never do anything to risk the life of my child. But, I have to ask, is my child at that much of a risk?"

"What do you mean?" Jessica asks confused. "Of course it is. Doctor Smith said..."

"That's right, Doctor Smith said the baby was at risk. But how does he know?" Natalie interrupts.

"What do you mean? He's a doctor." Jessica argues.

"But he's not an OBGYN, is he? Because if he was, then he's not a very good one." Natalie counters. "If my baby was at so much risk, then why wouldn't Dad get a doctor who specializes in pregnancies and delivering babies? I'm not allowed to ask Dr. Smith a lot, but I was able to find out that much. I still don't know what his speciality is, but I know its not delivering babies. I suspected that before I even began to recognize the fact that something was seriously wrong."

"How did you know that?" Vicki asks. "Why would you question what he says about your baby being at risk?"

"Cause he has never even done an ultrasound." Natalie explains, catching the shocked look passing between her Mother and Sister. "Exactly. How could he possibly know that something is wrong with the baby if he hasn't even looked at the baby to see what is going on? That would have been the first thing Vivian would have done. In fact, she probably did before Dad had her thrown off the case for whatever reason. You both know that she would be my Doctor of choice, if Dad were to give me a choice. But instead I'm not even allowed to talk to her."

"Have you asked your Dad to let you talk to her?" Vicki asks.

"Oh, yeah I've asked. You know how it is when you are pregnant, you worry and have questions, questions only someone you trust can answer. And I trust Vivian. She helped me through the pregnancy with Liam without any problems even with all the secrets I was keeping. I trust her a lot more then Dr. Smith, but Dad said I just needed to give him a chance and that everything would be ok. But I want to hear the Doctor I trust say that herself, you know. But Dad refuses to allow it."

"Why do you think that is?"

"I think Dad is hiding something."

"Like what?" Jessica asks.

"I don't know exactly, but I think that I'm not really as bad as he wants everyone to believe." Natalie explains.

"But why would he do that, Natalie? Your Dad loves you." Vicki says.

"Like I said, I don't doubt that, Mom. And he may think he is just protecting me, but he is taking it to far. I think he is using my accident and supposed high risk pregnancy to keep me from confronting John about abandoning me and Liam. He knows that I know that something isn't right there and he wants keep me from finding out what it is. This is truly his way of reaching his ultimate goal of getting John out of my life."

"Honey, John was already out of your life by his own choice. He is the one who chose to leave and stay away. He's the one who hasn't tried to contact you. So why would your Dad have to go to all this trouble to keep him away from you?"

'How do we know that, Mom? How do we know he hasn't tried to contact me?" Natalie asks. "I'm not allowed to have my phone, so how do we know he hasn't tried to call me. And I know he hasn't shown up, but that could be because of the restraining order."

"But you had Dad lift that right after you had the accident. You wanted to make sure that if something happened to you that Liam would have at least one parent around for him. You made sure everyone knew that right before you passed out." Jessica explains.

"Yes, I did. But how do we know that he did as I asked? I've never seen any evidence that he had it lifted. Have either of you been shown any paper work showing that the restraining order was rescinded?" When both of them shake their head no, Natalie continues. "Then how do we know that he had it rescinded like he said he did. If the restraining order is still in place, then John can't come around because then he would risk losing Liam forever. Its not like John to stay away from his son. He loves Liam and I believe he's a good Dad. There has to be some reason he has not even tried to see his son. And the restraining order is the only reason I can think of."

"How do you intend to find out if the restraining order is still in effect or not?" Jessica asks.

"I'm going to get Uncle Bo and Nora help me with that. But I have to get out of here first and I need the two of you to help me do that."

"Natalie, I'm not going to do anything to endanger you or the baby." Vicki states empathically.

"I'm not asking you to, Mom. I wouldn't do anything to hurt the baby. But if the baby is ok then I am going to try to fix my life and there is nothing anyone can do to stop me."

"She's right, Mom." Jessica says when her Mother starts to protest. "She has to do this. Not just for herself and Liam, but for the new baby as well."

Sighing, Vicki gives in. "Ok, what can we do to help?"

"Oh, Mom, Thank you." Natalie gushes, reaching out to hug Vicki. Releasing her Mother, Natalie starts to lay out her plans. "Ok, first of all we need to get in touch with Vivian. I want her to examine me to make sure the baby is ok before we do anything. Then I need to talk to Uncle Bo and Nora. If the restraining order is still in place, then I'm going to need their help to get it lifted. After that will come the hard part of getting me out of this house without Dad, Nurse Gretchin, or the guards stopping me. But we can deal with that later. For now its enough to know that we are actually working on this. Thank you again, Mom, for helping me. You too Jess. "

"Honey, you know we would do anything for you. But we can't do anything tonight, so why don't you get some sleep and we can start on this first thing in the morning. We love you, Natalie." After kissing Natalie on the cheek, Vicki starts out the door.

Jessica also kisses her sister on the cheek before starting to follow her Mother out the door. Reaching the door, she turns again to look at her sister. "Natalie what are you going to do when you do leave here?"

"I'm going to find John and figure out how we went wrong so fast. I owe it to my children to find that out and to try to fix it."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Port Charles

John walked through the station at the PCPD, on the way to his office. The transition as the Chief of Detectives here had been practically painless. For the most part, the officers here respected and agreed with the decision to put John in a position of authority even though he didn't work here before. And the ones who didn't wisely kept their opinions to themselves. John was surprised at how much he enjoyed working at the PCPD. When Anna first offered him the job, he only took it to prove to the court that he had a way to support Liam. But since actually starting, he realized just how much he missed the work. He truly missed losing himself in the work, letting all of his problems fade away while he concentrated on solving whatever case he was working on the moment. Only this time it didn't seem to be working. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to get his mind off of Natalie and Liam. There were times in the past couple of days where he found himself just staring at their picture instead of working. He missed them so much, but he intended to do everything he could to get back to them. Or at least back to Liam, since getting Natalie back was probably going to prove a little harder. But he planned to get her back. No matter what he was going to prove to Natalie and the court that he was worthy of her and Liam. "But to do that I need to get out of my head and concentrate on the job before Anna and the Mayor decide they don't need me after all."

"Talking to yourself again, John? This seems to have become a bad habit with you. You might want to be careful or someone might actually think you have lost it just a bit." Anna said walking up beside him.

John smirks. "I'll have to keep that in mind. What are you doing down here with the regular working folk, Commissioner? Did you decide to slum it for a little while?"

"Cute, McBain," Anna jokes. "But oh so wrong. I don't consider coming down here slumming it. I happen to like watching the officers doing their work. It helps me work through things in my head when I hit a road block in a case."

"Is that what you are doing now? Are you stumped and need some help working through it?"

"No, not this time. I was actually looking for you. I went to your office and you weren't there so I thought I would try to find you in here. I wanted to speak to you in private if I could." Anna explains.

"Uh oh. What have I done wrong?"

"Nothing," Anna assures him.

"Good, wouldn't want the boss to be mad at me after only a few days." John laughs. "Why don't you come with me to my office and we can talk there. I was on my way there anyway." John leads the way to his office and offers Anna one of the chairs in front of his desk while he sat at the one behind it. "What can I do for you, boss?"

"I just wanted to see how you are settling into your new job."

"Uh, pretty good I think. I'm glad to finally be working again. Didn't realize how much I missed it until I was back at it. Hey, thanks again for the job. It has really helped to keep my mind off things."

"Really, cause I don't think so."

"What? What do you mean?" He asks stunned. "Anna if I'm not doing the job to your satisfaction, then I guess..."

"No! No! That's not what I mean at all." She interrupts. "You are doing a great a job. I couldn't be more pleased with your job performance. John, the Mayor and I consider you an asset to the department and we both are pleased beyond belief that you have become a part of our family."

"Then what's the problem?"

"Nothing, really. I have just noticed that you have been a little bit distracted lately. I thought maybe you would want to talk about whatever it is going on in your head."

"Um, Anna, I don't... I mean uh." John stammered.

"Ok, I know you don't like to talk about your feelings, or even to talk period. But sometimes it can help to get it all out." When John starts to shake his head no, she decides to try another way to get him to open up. "John we are in a business where being distracted can get you killed. Or maybe even worse, in your case especially since you like to blame yourself for every wrong in the world, get someone else killed."

"You think I'm a danger to other people?"

"No, of course not. Well not intentionally anyway." Anna explains. "John if you get lost in your head when you are in the field, then you or someone else could be hurt. I know you don't want that to happen."

"That's right I don't. But Anna, I'm a good cop. I do everything in my power to make sure everyone is safe around me. I can't lose my job now, I need it."

"I know you are a good cop, John. But sometime when we have things on our mind accidents can happen. You need to always keep your mind focused on what you're doing. And I think if you talk about what's going on it might help."

"I don't think talking about it will make anything better." John sighs rubbing his hand through his hair. "You know I used to use work to forget about my problems. I would lose myself in a case for hours and not think about anything else. But its not working this time."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. I just can't seem to stay focused. I'll be working on a case and then my mind just starts wondering."

"Has this ever happened to you before?"

"Only a couple times."

" And do those time have anything in common with what your mind is wondering to now?"

"Anna..."

"No, John. Answer the question." Anna interrupts. "Is the same thing distracting you now that was distracting you then?"

John sighs in resignation. "Yes it is."

"And that thing is what?"

"You know what it is. Its Natalie and Liam. All I can think about is my family and about how much I want to be with them."

"Then what are you going to do about it?"

"There's nothing I can do about it right now. The restraining order is still in place. Natalie still won't talk to me. What can I do about it other then wait?"

"You could fight."

"Fight, how? I would love to fight for them, but right now I'm stuck in what seems to be a permanent holding pattern. The court date has been pushed back so I'm stuck here for a while still. If I go home to Llanview and try to see them, then I'll be arrested and that would make it near to impossible for me to ever see Liam again. Clint would love that. That would definitely make his day. But you know what? Even that doesn't stop me from driving to the airport and almost going up the ticket counter to buy a ticket back to Llanview. Its especially tempting now."

"Why now? Has something changed since the last time we spoke?"

"I'm not really sure but I think so." At Anna's questioning look, John continues. "Do you remember how I told you before that every time I called Natalie some woman I didn't know would answer?"

Anna nods. "You said that all she would tell you was that you couldn't provide for Natalie and Liam in the manner they had become accustomed. Has that changed?"

"Well sort of. Now when I call, no one answers. The calls go straight to voice mail."

"Maybe Natalie decided she didn't want to take any calls and told the woman to turn her phone off. Or maybe, and I'm sorry to have to say this, Natalie changed her number so you couldn't call her any more."

"Yeah maybe, but you see, the Natalie I know would never do that. You have to understand, Anna. Natalie is almost obsessive about her phone. She could never just let it ring or go to voice mail. I always knew if she didn't answer my calls then she was very busy or something was seriously wrong. We could be spending some alone time together and she would still answer the phone, no matter what we were doing. She can't stand the thought of someone having something important to tell her and her missing it. That's also the reason she won't change her number. I think she's changed her number once in all the time I have known her. She wants people to always be able to get in touch with her no matter how long it has been since she may have talked to them. She doesn't like to lose touch with anyone."

"She may have changed in the last few months."

"There's no way she has changed that much. And there's another thing that has been bothering me all along. Natalie does not like anyone messing with her phone. The only time she ever let me touch it was when she would lose it and I had to help her find it. And you can forget about me or anyone else answering it. She would go ballistic if I even thought about touching it when it would ring. So why would she suddenly let someone she's known for less then four months answer her phone?"

"How can you be so sure she hasn't known her longer?"

"Because I don't recognize her voice. I'm not trying to sound like I was always in Natalie's business, but I pretty much knew everyone she did. So she had to have met this woman after I left."

"But how do you know she just didn't tell you about this woman?"

"She wouldn't do that. We made a deal when we got back together this last time that we wouldn't have any more secrets between us. We always tried to tell each other everything. She got so mad at me when I finally confessed everything about my sister, but she quickly forgave me because she loved me. But she made me promise to never keep anything from her again. But that's one promise I broke right away. I was breaking it even while I was making the promise because I never told her anything about Sam." John told her, his voice shaking. Needing a moment to compose himself, he stood up and moved to look out the window with his back to Anna.

"John is there anyone else you can call to find out about what might be wrong with Natalie?"

"Normally I would say Bo Buchanan, but I don't think he would help me now. The last time I talked to him, you know when he fired me, he seemed really angry at me for hurting Natalie. He wouldn't even talk to me about her. When I asked about her, he told me to leave her alone. That I had done enough to hurt her and with everything she was dealing with now, the last thing she needed was me bothering her."

"What is she going through?" Anna asks confused.

"I wish I knew, but he wouldn't tell me. So I can't expect any help there."

"Well, maybe he will help me."

John turn to look at her with a questioning look on his face. "Help you how? What are you up to?"

"I just thought that maybe if I called him, then maybe I could get some answers from him." When John starts to shake his head no, Anna explains. "John, think about it. Bo and I don't know each other very well, but we have consulted on a few cases. If I call him as a reference for you before I give you a job, then he might be more willing to open up to me."

John thought for a moment. "You know it might just work. Its worth a shot anyway." Taking out his phone, he pulls up a number. "Here's the number to the station. I would suggest you use another phone instead of mine. If he sees my name on the caller id he probably won't answer."

"I'm way ahead of you." Anna says showing him her phone in her hand. After dialing the number John gave her, she places the phone to her ear waiting a moment before someone answered. "Yes, this is Anna Devane, the Port Charles Police Commissioner. I need to speak to Commissioner Buccannan on an urgent police matter...Oh I see. Is there a more convenient time I can get in touch with him. Oh, ok. I'll try back later then. Thank you for your help." Anna shut the phone off before looking over at John. "I'm sorry John, but Bo wasn't in. The secretary said she didn't know when he would be back, that he was dealing with an urgent family issue."

"Family issue? What kind of family issue?

"I don't know she didn't say. All she said was that he should be back in a few days, so I'll try back then. Don't worry, John. I'll speak to him as soon as I can and find out anything he's will to tell me. I'll get some answers for you."

"Thanks, Anna. This waiting is just hard you know, especially now with Thanksgiving coming up. You know it was on the day before Thanksgiving last year when we got Liam back. Natalie and I had only found out a few days before that he was mine. The man who had been claiming to be his dad took off with him. Natalie and I tracked them down and he gave Liam back. I got to spend Liam's first Thanksgiving with him as his Dad. And now a year later, I'm several states away from him, not seen him for over three months, and don't know when I'll get to in the future. I just want to see my family."

'I know you do, John. But speaking of Thanksgiving, what are your plans?"

"I don't have any."

"What about Sam? Is there a chance you might spend it with her."

"I don't think so. Sam and I are just friends. This is a holiday she needs to spend with her family. I don't want to interfere with that. I'll probably just stay in my hotel room or come back here to work."

"That's no way to spend a holiday. Why don't you have dinner with me at Mac and Felicia's? And don't think you are imposing because you are not. Mac will be glad to have you. Think about it ok. You have a few days to make up your mind." Anna gets up and starts walking towards the door. Reaching the door, she turns to look at John again. "John, what are you going to do when you do finally get to see Natalie?"

"I'm going to sit her down and explain everything to her. I'm going to make her understand that the kiss with Sam meant nothing and that she's the only woman I want. I'm going to fight for the woman I love Anna, even if its her I have to fight the hardest."

Llanfair

Clint rushes into Llanfair, his eyes darting around frantically. "Lois, Gretchin, Jessica, where is everyone?"

"Clint, keep your voice down. The children might be napping." Vicki scolds as she follows him in the door. "You know, you never did explain to me why we had to cut our trip short by a week. We were suppose to be gone for two weeks on our delayed honeymoon. I don't understand why we had to come back so soon."

"I told you, Vicki, something is wrong. I haven't been able to get in touch with anyone all week to check on Natalie. No one is answering the phone. Jessica isn't even taking my calls. Something is going on with my daughter and I intend to find out what it is!" Clint told her as he started to rush up the stairs.

"Clint, she's probably asleep, you know. You should let her rest." She called up after him but wasn't surprised when he ignored her. "Oh, Natalie, I hope you were able to get away. I had hoped to give you more time. Please, baby, please be safe." She said to herself as she waited for Clint. She heard him before she saw him as he stomped back down the stairs. "How's Natalie?"

"Why don't you tell me?" He practically shouted at her as he stopped in front of her and grabbed her arms. "Where are my daughter and grandson, Vicki?"


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry for the delay. I like to finish the next chapter before I post the new one ane it is pretty long so this one was delayed. Thank you for all the reviews. I'm glad you are enjoying it.

Chapter 5

Llanfair

"Where is my daughter and grandson, Vicki?" Clint yelled at his wife as he grabbed her arms.

"Aren't they upstairs?" Vicki stalled.

"No, they are not. But you already knew that didn't you, Vicki? You already knew that they were gone, didn't you?" He yells at her, shaking her a little bit. "Answer me!"

"Take your hands off me!" Vicki jerks away from him. "Don't you ever touch me like that again. Now what's this nonsense about my daughter and grandson? As far as I know they are upstairs in their beds asleep."

"Don't lie to me, Vicki. You knew exactly what I would find when I went up those stairs." he said angrily.

"How would I know that, Clint? I have been with you this entire week, as you know. I haven't talked to anyone here any more then you have. This was suppose to be our honeymoon, time for us to spend alone. Keeping in touch with the people back here was the least of my plans for the week."

"That's right Vicki, you haven't kept in touch with our daughters at all this week. You even kept trying to distract me from calling them. Why is that? You never like to be out of contact with our children. Why was this week so different?"

"Clint, this trip was important to us. We have been planning it for awhile now. I just wanted us to enjoy ourselves without having to deal with what was going on back here. This was suppose to be our time for us."

"Why did our time have to happen now? I told you I wanted to wait until after Natalie was better, til things were more settled with her. But you insisted we go now, and not for the two weeks we had originally planned, but for an entire month. Why is that?"

"We already had the reservations for two weeks and I thought it would be good for us go now to get away from all the stress that we've been under since Natalie's accident. It's hasn't been but a little over a year since you had your heart transplant so I know all the stress couldn't be good for you. So I thought a month away from all of this would be good for you, for both of us." Vicki explained.

"Good for us, Vicki? Or did you just think it would be a good time for Natalie to get away with my grandson?"

"Get away with your grandson? You act like she stole her own child. If Natalie wanted to go out with her son then she was well within her right to do so."

"She's sick, Vicki. She should still be resting."

"Well, obviously she doesn't think so since she has gone out for the day with Liam."

"Cut the crap, Vicki. You know she hasn't just gone out somewhere with Liam. Most of their things are gone. She has taken clothes for both her and the boy. She's gone. So are Jessica and her kids. Gretchin and the guards are nowhere to be found. Now stop stalling and tell me where my daughters are." Clint demands.

"Jessica and her children have taken a little trip. They should be back in a few days. Since Natalie is better now I saw no reason to keep the nurse around, so I had Jessica fire her. And I don't know or care about where your guards are."

"And Natalie? Where is she? And don't lie to me, Vicki. I want the truth and I want it now."

"I don't know." Clint gives her a disbelieving look. "I'm not lying to you. Natalie wouldn't tell me where she was going for this exact reason. She didn't want me to have to lie to you." She tells him as Clint gets his phone out and starts to dial before her words stop him. "There's no need for that. You won't be able to find her. She left the same morning we did. They are long gone by now."

Clint gets up into her face. "You'd better hope you're wrong, Vicki. Cause if I don't find Natalie and Liam soon there's going to be hell to pay. Now get out of my sight. I can't stand being in the presence of someone who betrayed me."

"Gladly," Vicki tells him as she starts for the stairs. "But don't think it going to be so easy to find her. Natalie has a mind of her own and she knows exactly what she wants to do in her life. You're big mistake was in thinking that you could keep her a prisoner in this house. You should never have tried. Now you've lost her forever."

Clint watches her walk up the stairs before making his call and waiting for someone to answer. "Its me." He says into the phone. "You need to find my daughter and grandson and bring them back here. I don't care what you have to do, I just want them back in this house within the week. You should start in Port Charles. If I know Natalie, she'll go running straight to McBain. Find her before she finds him."

Cabin Llantano Mountain

Natalie walked once again to the window and looked outside anxiously. "Where are you Uncle Bo? We have to get out of here."

"Natalie, stop worrying. They will be here soon." Jessica told her from the couch where she sat holding a sleepy Liam.

"I know." Natalie said turning to face her sister. "I'm just ready to get out of here. The longer we stay here the more likely Dad is to come back and find us gone. We've been lucky so far that Mom was able to keep him away this long. I have a feeling she's not going to be able to do it much longer."

"Its going to be ok, Natalie. Dad is not going to find us. Even if he does there is nothing he can do now. He doesn't have any control over what you do any more. Listen, I'm going to put Liam down for his nap so he will be rested for when Uncle Bo gets here and you have to leave." Jessica got up and started out of the room before turning back to face her sister. "Don't worry, Sweety. Everything is going to turn out the way its suppose to. Just remember how easy it was for us to leave Llanfair."

"Yeah, almost too easy. I think we were more lucky then anything and I'm just afraid that our luck is going to run out." As Jessica left the room, Natalie turned to face the window once again thinking about her escape from Llanfair.

When she had first started to plan her escape, she had a clear idea in her mind how things were suppose to go. They were suppose to get Dr. Vivian Wright to check her out. Then if everything was ok with the baby they were going to get Uncle Bo and Nora on board, and then finally they would get her out of there. But almost from the start they all three began to realize that it wasn't going to work. First there seemed to be absolutely no way to get Vivian in to see her with Gretchin watching her like a hawk. And Uncle Bo and Nora were not on the list of people the guards were to allow in the house. It became clear that she was going to have to get out of the house first. So they had come up with a new plan. And it all started with her Mother getting her Dad out of town.

-flashback-

Natalie looked up nervously as her bedroom door opened, and started to rush back to the bed. "Relax, its just me," her Mother said as she walked into the room to see her dressed daughter out of bed.

"Thank Goodness, its you Mom." Natalie said as she went back to her packing. "I was scared for a moment that it might be Dad. Are you guys about ready to leave?"

"Just about. You're Dad is just finishing up some last minute calls then he's coming up here to tell you bye. So you better hide that bag and get back in bed." Natalie nods and does as she asks. Vicki helps her with the covers and kisses her on the forehead. "Are you all set? Do you have everything ready?"

"Yeah, Jessica got Uncle Bo to help get us a place to stay by telling him that she needed to get away with the kids for a few days. Then she arranged for Vivian to meet us at Cherry Vale to examine me. After that, I'm going to explain everything to Bo and Nora and see if they will help with everything else. Don't worry Mom, it all going to work out."

"How are you going to get out of here and away from Gretchin and the guards?"

"We have that all figured out, but you don't get to know about it." When Vicki started to protest Natalie continued. "Mom, I told you I didn't want to tell you that part or where we will be staying so you don't have to lie to Dad. I don't want to put my problems in the middle of your marriage."

"Your Dad already did that, Darling. But I understand why you feel this way, so I'll respect your wishes and won't ask. But promise me you will be careful."

"I will, Mom. I promise." The two only had time for one more hug before her Dad was in the room telling Natalie bye and to not give Gretchin to much trouble. Natalie promised she would and watched them walk out the door. About ten minutes later Jessica walked into the room. "Are they gone?"

"Yeah, and everything is all set. I gave the guards their special coffee about thirty minutes ago so it will be kicking in soon and Gretchin should be in here any minute."

"You didn't put to much in it did you? I want to knock them out, not kill them."

"Don't worry, I did it just like Shawn told me to. Now do your part so we can get this over with." Jessica tells her as she moves away to hide in the closet with the door slightly ajar.

Seeing that she was ready, Natalie started yelling. "Gretchin. Gretchin help me. My head is splitting. It hasn't hurt this bad since right after I woke up. Ow Gretchin, please," she moans.

Gretchin rushes into the room and runs to her patient's side and kneeling over her, never realizing that Jessica was sneaking up behind her with a needle before it was to late. "Ow, what the..." she gets out before she slumps over on Natalie out cold.

"Good job, Jessica. Now get her off me and get a rope." The sisters worked together to get Gretchin tied up and placed in Natalie's bed with the cover over her. Then they got all their stuff and the kids, walked pass the drugged guards to Jessica's car and drove away.

-end flashback-

They had driven straight to the clinic and met Vivian where she gave her and the baby a clean bill of health. From there they had went to the cabin on Llantano Mountain that Jessica had convinced Bo to get for them. And that was where they had stayed ever since. Shawn had promised to go by the house to take care of the guards and to let Gretchin know that her services were no longer needed. Jessica had gotten in touch with Bo and Nora and they had come to the cabin where Natalie had explained the situation to them . After hearing everything, they were only to glad to help. That had all been a few days ago and now all she could do was wait. Hearing a car in the drive way, she looks up to see two cars pull into the yard. Giving a sigh of relief, she walks to the door to let them in. "I'm so glad you guys are finally here," she told them as she opened the door and moved to the side so they could enter.

"Sorry it took so long, Honey." Bo told her as her hugged her then released her. "But we had a lot to do and it took some time."

"I know, Uncle Bo, and I'm sorry if it seems like I was rushing you. Its just that I'm anxious to get out of here before Dad figures out something is going on." Natalie explains. "Did you get everything?"

"Sure did," he assures her before handing her a large envelope. "Here are new ids for you and Liam and also enough cash money to do you for awhile. I was also able to get you a new car." He says handing her a set of keys. "Don't worry, it can't be traced back to you. I also got you an untraceable phone. Its in the envelope. I got me one too so you can contact me without your father knowing and I already put my number in your phone. I don't want you completely out of touch if something should happen."

"Thank you, Uncle Bo." She says before turning to Nora. "What about the restraining order? Were you able to have it lifted?"

"Not yet, but its in the works. Its going to take a few days."

"But I thought it was just a simple restraining order and all it would take was my signature to have it removed?" A confused Natalie asked.

"Normally that would be true, but it seems Clint had a friend of his issue it and he is refusing to rescind it without Clint giving his permission. But I should still be able to get it done. I just have to find a way convince him to do what's right. So don't worry. By the time you get to where you are going I should have it lifted. Truthfully, it should have never been issued in the first place. Restraining orders are meant to protect people who are in danger of physical harm. And no matter what John may have done with some other woman, you clearly didn't meet the criteria." Nora explained.

"I know, but I was so hurt by the picture of him kissing that little tramp that I was willing to agree to anything Dad said if it meant that John would stay away from me until I was ready to talk to him." Natalie said.

"Honey, are you sure you want to do this? Are you sure you want to go to Port Charles?" Bo asked her.

"I have to, Uncle Bo. I have to find John. I have to find out exactly why he has stayed away even though it will probably break my heart. I know part of it could be the restraining order but there has to be another reason. I mean he hasn't even come back for his job, and we all know how he is about work. Why hasn't he come home for that?" She asks before catching a weird look passing between her Uncle and his wife. "Ok, what do you two know?"

"Honey, John doesn't work at the LPD anymore." Bo tells her gently.

"What do you mean? Did he quit his job? Why would he quit his job?"

"He didn't. I fired him."

"WHAT?! Why would you fire him? How could you?"

"Honey, your dad kept telling me how John was responsible for what happened to you and how you didn't want him anywhere near you. He said it would help you if he didn't have a job to come back for. Then he had the mayor press me fire him too, so I caved. I'm sorry. I was just so angry at him for hurting you that I didn't want to see him either. I fired him a few weeks back." Bo explained.

"What's he doing for money, then?"

"I don't know for sure, but my secretary called me on the way up here to tell me the Port Charles police commissioner called to speak to me but she didn't say about what. I think he may be trying to get a job there." Bo says.

"Oh, ok. Well wow." Natalie stammers as she sinks down on the couch.

"What's wrong, Natalie?" Bo asks sitting beside her.

"It just seems like he is really making Port Charles his home. It feels like he is getting further and further away from me and Liam." Natalie said sadly before snapping herself out of it. "But that doesn't even matter now. All that matters is finding him and trying to fix things for Liam and the new baby. All that other stuff is not important right now."

"Are you sure?" Nora asks.

"Yeah, I am. And there is no need to wait. The longer I delay the more likely it is that Dad will find us. Jessica, could you bring me Liam? Its time to go." She calls to her sister.

Jessica came into the room carrying a sleeping Liam. "Are you sure you're ready? Mom and Dad aren't suppose to be back for another week so we could stall for a little longer if you want more time to build up your strength."

"No, I don't want to tempt fate any longer. I don't really think that Mom is going to be able to keep Dad away for the whole two weeks. We need to get away while we can. But don't worry, I'll keep in touch with Uncle Bo on the phone he gave me and he can keep you updated."

"Just make sure you do. I don't know what I would do if something happened to you." Jessica tells her giving her a strong hug. Releasing her, she wipes her eyes as she moves towards the door. "I'll put Liam in the car for you."

"There's a car seat in the car already for him." Bo calls after her before turning to hug Natalie. "You promise me to be careful. And you call me everyday."

"I will. Thank you both for everything. I wouldn't have gotten away without your help." After giving both Bo and Nora another quick hug, she heads toward the car.

Bo, Nora and Jessica helped her get her things in the car then waved bye as Natalie started out of the driveway. Jessica wiped tears from her eyes as she silently said goodbye to her sister for the foreseeable future. "I hope she's well enough to do this. Do you think she'll be ok, Uncle Bo?"

Bo wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a hug. "I hope so honey. She definitely will be if she finds John before your Father finds her."

As she pulls out onto the road, she looks into the rear view mirror at a still sleeping Liam in his car seat. "Here we go, baby. Its time we find Daddy. Next stop Port Charles."


	6. Chapter 6

Here's the next chapter. Thanks so much for the reviews. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 6

Port Charles

Natalie with Liam in her arms walked onto the pier to look out over the water. "Wow, this is really beautiful. The way the light hits the water makes it shine like diamonds. I bet your Daddy loves it down here, especially at night when the moon is playing over the water. He probably stays down here for hours just staring at the water the way he likes to do when he has something on his mind. That is unless he's to busy with his new little friend." She told Liam bitterly. "But we will deal with that when we have to. Right now why don't we just enjoy this beautiful view and just relax for a little bit. We deserve it after the last few days we've had."

It had been about five days since she and Liam left the cabin, five very long days. Wanting to travel slow she had intended to be in Port Charles within two days of leaving Llanview, but things hadn't turned out that way. Instead she had to spend a couple of days in a roadside motel trying to regain enough strength to continue traveling. She just couldn't understand why she was unable to get back to her old self. She had thought she was well on her way to being better before she left Llanfair, but her head had seemed to hurt more each day. And she couldn't seem to get enough rest. Oh, she knew that part of the tiredness was because of the baby, but not all of it. There were times when it was difficult for her to put one foot in front of the other. Natalie knew she needed to see a Doctor but she was afraid of what would happen if Clint found her before she reached John. So she had took a room for a couple of days at a motel where the owners took cash money and wouldn't ask a lot of questions and tried to rest for a couple of days before forcing herself to continue on with Liam even though she just wanted to sleep. Today though was one of her good days and she had decided to stretch her legs by showing Liam the water. But now her head was starting to ache again so she knew it was time to find a place to rest. "Ok, baby its time to go. We need to find a room for the night before we find Daddy tomorrow. Maybe we can get him to bring you down here to see the water. Would you like that?" She asks her son, smiling at the look of delight on his face. "Yeah, that will be something fun for the two of you to do together. But first, we both can use a nap. So let's go baby." She tells him.

As they start to leave Liam decides he wants to walk. Concentrating on setting Liam down and taking his hand securely to make sure he didn't move away from her, Natalie didn't notice the two men coming up to her until one of them grabbed her by the arm while the other reached for Liam. "Ms. Banks, its time you go home now."

Startled, Natalie whirled her head around to look at the men while she pulled Liam close to her body. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"I'm Mr. Black, Miss. Your father sent us to get you. Now give the boy to my friend Mr. Blue over there and we will be on our way."

"Take you hands off of me!" She jerks away from him. "And you stay away from my son." She spits at Mr. Blue while she subtly puts her free hand in her pocket. "We aren't going anywhere with you. We have business here, so here is where we'll stay. You can tell my father to back off and stay away from us."

"Sorry, we can't do that, Ms. Banks. You need to come with us now." Mr. Black said reaching for her again.

"I said to keep your hands off of me!" She yells as she pulls her hand out of her pocket with her pepper spray in her hand and sprays Mr. Black in the eyes. Not bothering to watch as he hits the ground screaming, Natalie grabs up a now crying Liam into her arms and tries to run away.

"Not so fast!" Mr. Blue grabs at Natalie as she struggles to get away.

"Stay away from me!" Natalie kicks him in the knee causing him to fall as she once again tries to run. She only makes it a few steps before Blue reaches out to grab her ankle causing her to fall with Liam in her arms. Knowing if she landed on Liam she could hurt him, Natalie turned her body in midair. But when she hit the ground, she hit with such force that her head snapped back hitting the pier hard causing her to losing her grip on Liam. He rolled out of her arms onto the pier and sat there crying reaching for his Mama. Blue, realizing if he had Liam then Natalie wouldn't fight him, crawled towards the baby. But before he can get to him Natalie hits him with a board.

When she hit her head it had stunned her for a moment, but then she saw the bully crawling towards Liam and knew she had to do something. Luckily she had landed in a pile of boards. Mustering her strength she grabs one, struggles to her feet, walks up behind Blue and hits him with it knocking him away from Liam. "Don't you touch my son!" Natalie hits him a few more times before she throws it down and starts toward Liam. "Its ok, baby. Mommy's going to get ahhhhh." She screams as she's grabbed from behind.

While Natalie was fighting with Blue, Mr. Black was trying to recover from the pepper spray. He manages to get on his feet just as Natalie hits his partner. Rushing over he grabs her before she can get to Liam. "You aren't going anywhere except home where you belong."

"No, I'm not! Let me go!"

"You need to do as the Lady says. Take your hands off of her and move over there by your buddy. Now!"

Still holding on to Natalie, Mr. Black looked over at the intruder with the gun. "Whoever you are you need to butt out. You don't know what you're interfering with."

"I'm detective Dante Falconari of the Port Charles Police Department. And from what I'm seeing it looks like you are trying to kidnap this woman and her child. Now do as I told you. Let her go and move over there by your friend."

Black releases Natalie and she slowly sinks to the ground as the last of her adrenalin slipped from her body. As she tries to crawl towards Liam, Black moves over next to Mr. Blue. "You're making a huge mistake. This is none of your business."

"I think it is. Anytime someone is manhandling a woman, trying to make her do something against her will, it is definitely my business." He glances over his shoulder at the woman coming up behind him on the phone. "Did you call it in?"

Lulu Falconari walked up behind him closing her phone. "Yeah, backup is on the way. They should be here in a few minutes." Lulu walked over to Natalie and knelt down beside her. "Are you ok?"

"My son. Please, don't let them get Liam."

"Don't worry. They aren't going to get anywhere near him. Do you want me to get him for you?"

"Please help my baby." Natalie say clutching her stomach. "Don't let my baby die."

Murmuring soothingly, Lulu picks up the crying child. "He's fine, just a little scared. I don't think you have to worry about him dying."

"My other baby. Please don't let me loose the baby."

"Oh my gosh, you're pregnant. We need to get you to the hospital. Dante," she calls to her husband who was turning his prisoners over to the uniforms who had just shown up. "We need to call an ambulance. She's pregnant. She needs to see a doctor."

Dante calls for an ambulance as he walks over to them. "They're on the way." He tells her as he's closing his phone before he kneels down next to Natalie. "Miss can you tell me your name? Is their family I can call to have them meet you at the hospital?"

"No, you can't! You can't call my family!" She says in a panic. "Promise me you won't call them. They can't know where I am."

"Calm down." Dante soothes. "I don't have a clue as to who your family is so I can't call them anyway. But you need someone there who can at least look after your son until the doctors check you out. Is there anyone else we could call?"

Natalie's head was hurting so bad that it was hard to think, but she had to put Liam first and push the pain aside to figure out who could take care of Liam. "Starr...Starr Manning. Call Starr Manning." she stammers before clutching her head. "My head. My head." she gasps as darkness engulfs her.

"Is she ok, Dante?" A worried Lulu asks, still trying to sooth a fretting Liam.

"Miss. Miss are you ok?" Dante placed his fingers on her neck. "She still has a pulse, thank God. But I would feel better if the paramedics would get here. How's the little guy?"

"He's good, aren't you little one?" Lulu smiles at the baby. "He may be a little bruised. It looks like she dropped him when she was fighting with those men, but I think he's ok. We may want the

paramedics to check him out when they get here anyway. I just wish we knew more about them. What do you think her connection is to Starr Manning?"

"I don't know, but I intend to find out as soon as we get her checked out." Hearing someone approaching, they both look up to see the paramedics walking towards them. "Glad you guys are here. She's been out about ten minutes. She grabbed her head like she was in real pain before she passed out. She has a real strong pulse though. Her attackers roughed her up some. You should also know that she's pregnant." Dante moves back to Lulu's side so they could work.

"How far along?" one of the paramedics asked as they start checking her out.

"Don't know. She passed out before she had a chance to tell me."

"Well she's to small to be very far along, but we need to get her to the hospital as soon as possible. I'll go get a stretcher." The other paramedic says as he moves off before Dante stops him.

"This is her baby," Dante tells them gesturing at Liam. "He will need to be checked out to. We think she might have been holding him when they knocked her down. We can meet you at the hospital with him."

"It might be better if he goes with us in case she wakes up and wants to know where he is. One of you can ride in the ambulance with him if you want." The paramedic explained before he went to get the stretcher.

"I'll go with him." Lulu volunteers. "I'll also call Starr Manning and have her to meet us at the hospital. Maybe she can tell us who they are and why she was so adamant that her family not know where she is."

"Ok, I'll follow you when I finish up here. If Starr can't tell us who they are I think I might know someone who can. But if I'm right then the drama is just starting."

Lulu gives his a questioning look but before she has a chance to ask the paramedics indicates that they are ready to leave. After telling her husband she would see him at the hospital, she follows them to the ambulance with Liam.

Dante turn his attention to the uniforms taking care of the suspects. "You about finished here guys?"

"Yes sir," one of the uniforms answered. "we need to get them checked out at the hospital though before we take them to the station. From the looks of it, the little lady fought them hard. She gave them a few licks they'll remember for awhile."

"Ok, take care of it then. I'm got to make a call then I'm going to meet my wife at the hospital to see about the victim. Maybe she'll be conscious enough to answer some questions." He takes out his phone and starts dialing as the uniforms walk off with their prisoners. Placing the phone to his ear he waits a moment for the person to answer. "John its Dante. I need you to meet me at General Hospital. Its important. I'll see you there in a bit." Dante closes his phone and heads to the hospital.

General Hospital

Dante walk into the ER to see his wife holding Liam in the waiting room and walks over to them. "Any word yet?"

Lulu shakes her head no. "Patrick is in with her now. I've called Starr though. She should be on her way. Dante, what did you mean earlier about that you might know someone who can tell us about this woman if Starr can't? Do you know her?"

"I've never met her but I think I've seen both of their pictures before."

"Really, where?"

"At the station on John McBain's desk."

Before Lulu has a chance to respond the two are interrupted. "Lulu, what's going on? Why was it so important for me to come here? Is there something wrong with..." she breaks off when she notices the baby in Lulu's arms. "What are you doing with Liam? Where's Natalie? Why do you have my cousin's son? What's going on?"

Natalie's Room

Dr. Patrick Drake rushed to his patient's side when she moaned as she was coming awake. She had been brought in about thirty minutes ago and had yet to regain consciousness. On the initial examination of the beautiful redhead he had noticed a large bump on the back of her head. He had ordered a few tests and he was awaiting the results, hoping she was about to wake up. "Miss can you hear me? Come on wake up for me." he urges.

Natalie groans as she opens her eyes slightly and looks around. "Where am I? What happened?"

"You're at General Hospital. I don't know what happened to you yet. I was hoping you could tell me. Can you tell me your name? Do you know where you are?"

"Natalie Banks. I came to Port Charles with Liam. Liam!" Natalie shouts trying to sit up in the bed. "Where is my son?"

Patrick pushes her back onto the bed. "Calm down. He's fine. He's with Lulu, the woman who came in with you, in the waiting room. We need to make sure you are ok then I'll see to it that he is brought to you. Now can you tell me what happened?"

Natalie thought for a minute. "I was trying to get away from the men and one of them tripped me. I started to fall but I had Liam in my arms and I didn't want to fall on him, so I turned my body so I would land on bottom. But the back of my head hit the pier hard. Oh no, I dropped Liam. When I hit the ground I dropped my son. Are you sure he's ok?"

"He's going to be checked out, I'll make sure of it. Now is there anything else you can tell me? Is there anywhere else you might be hurt?

Natalie clutches her stomach. "My baby. I'm pregnant, about four months. Is my baby ok?"

"Are you experiencing any cramping?" Natalie shakes her head no. "Then everything is probably ok, but I'll have an OBGYN check you out. Can you tell me about your medical history? Other then the pregnancy, have you had any other recent medical issues?"

"I was in a coma for almost two months after a car accident. They said I had some sort of head injury, not sure exactly what it was."

"When was this?"

"About three months ago."

"So you've only been awake about a month?" he asks as he shines a light in her eyes. "Have you experienced any complications from this injury?"

"When I first woke up I had some severe headaches. They got better after a couple of weeks. But this week they have gotten bad again. And I can't seem to get my energy back. Is something bad wrong with me?"

"That's what I'm going to find out. You just lay here and relax. I'm going to order some more test and see about getting the ob in here to check out your baby. Is there anyone I can call for you? I see there isn't any family or contact information on your chat."

Natalie hesitated for a moment. Should she have John called? The whole point of coming to Port Charles was to find John. But did she want her first meeting with him in months to be with her in a hospital bed? Then again she had to think about keeping Liam safe. There was no way to know how long she would have to stay here and Liam would need to be with someone he knew and trusted and someone who could also keep her father away from him. And that person was definitely not Starr. "John McBain. I don't know if you know him or not cause he's fairly new here, but could you please have someone find him for me? Can you call John and tell him I need to see him? But please don't tell him about the baby. He should hear that from me."

"I'll see to it that he's called. And don't worry. I can't tell him about the baby because of Doctor/Patient Confidentiality. You just lay back and try to relax. Just remember that the calmer you stay, the better it is for the baby. I'll come back in to check on you in a bit." Patrick tells her as he goes out the door.

Natalie lays back to try to relax like the doctor told her only to be over taken by a bout of nerves. Placing her hand on her slight baby bump, Natalie takes a deep breath to again try to calm herself. "Mommy's worried baby. It's time for daddy to find out about you. But don't you be afraid cause he's going to love you. And even if he doesn't, I will. I will always love and protect you and Liam with everything I have.

Waiting Room

Starr Manning had arrived at the hospital in a frantic rush, scared to death that something bad had happened to her dad or her boyfriend Michael. Instead when she walked into the emergency room waiting area she found Lulu and Dante sitting there with Liam. "You haven't answered my question. Why do you have Natalie's son?"

"Do you know this little boy and his Mom?" Dante asks.

"Yeah, this is my cousin Natalie Banks' little boy Liam McBain. Now what are you doing with him? The last I heard they were in Llanview."

"Well, they're not anymore apparently. Lulu and I were walking on the docks today when we heard a woman yelling for someone to stay away from her and sounds of a struggle. We went running to the sound and we found a woman fighting with two men. The little boy was sitting on the ground crying. I stepped in and got the men away from her, but not before she hit her head or something. She didn't tell us her name and she refused to tell us how to get in touch with her family. Right before she passed out she told us to call you and ask you to take care of her son."

"Is she ok? I need to call Aunt Vicki." Star says in a panic as she reaches for her phone.

"Wait," Lulu stops her. "She doesn't want her family called. She was adamant about that. We promised her we wouldn't. I think you need to wait until you find out why she didn't want them called. Patrick is in with her now. He should be out soon."

"Ok, I'll hold off for now." Star gives in as she sinks into a chair by Lulu and Liam. "I don't understand any of this. Natalie has always been extremely close with her family ever since she found them when she was eighteen. But things have been strange with her since everything happened with John. My mom told me that no one has seen Natalie for months. It was like she went into seclusion. None of this makes any sense. Wait a minute. Did you call John McBain? Liam is his son."

"I called him. He had to take care of a few things at the station, but he should be here any minute." Dante explains.

"We still need to get Liam checked out." Lulu said. "Why don't you go with me, Starr? You're family so you can answers any questions they may have."

"I'll try, but I have to tell you, Natalie and I aren't that close. That's one thing that has me puzzled about this whole thing. Why would she call me instead of her sister or one of her brothers? They may not be in town, but her family is rich so they wouldn't have had any problem getting here. So why call me instead of them or John?"

"I think that's something your cousin will have to answer." Lulu tells her. "But right now I intend to keep my promise to her and keep her son safe. And part of that is to get him checked out to make sure he wasn't hurt in the struggle." They get up and walk over to the nurses desk.

Just as the girls got out of sight, John walked into the er looking for Dante. Spotting him in the waiting room, he walks over to him. "Dante, what's up man? What did you need my help with?"

"Chief, glad you're here. There's a lot I need to tell you. You might want to sit down. This is going to be a shock."

John moves to a chair and sits down. "What's going on Dante?"

Before he has a chance to answer a voice interrupts them. "The Nurse said they would call us back in a minute and for us to wait here. But I think the little guy is getting hungry so we thought we would take him to the cafeteria to get him something to eat." Lulu explains.

John, who had looked over at the girls when Lulu started to speak, sat there in stunned silence until the girls, not yet noticing John, started to leave. "Liam," he chokes out as he stares at his son with tears in his eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

Here's the next chapter. i wanted to clear something up. I don't hate Clint. LOL I really don't. This story came from some spoilers I heard about the time John recieved the letter from Natalie. The spoilers implied that Clint was behind the letter and was manupilating the situation. This is just my take on that and I needed a villian for the story and decided that Clint would make a good one. I don't intend to have him do anything bad enough that a daughter who loved him couldn't forgive him for. But it will get worse between them before it gets better. Thanks for all the reviews and reading my little story. Hope you enjoy this new chapter.

Chapter 7

John's heart was in his throat as he looked at the little guy in Lulu's arms. "Liam," he chokes out as he stares at his son with tears in his eyes. "Liam, what are you doing here?" He asks the baby as if he could answer.

Liam, seeing his daddy for the first time in months, squirms in Lulu's arms. "Dada," he says in his little baby voice as he reaches his little arms out to his daddy.

Standing up, John is unable to resist taking him in his arms and holding him tight. "I have missed you so much, Buddy. I can't believe how much you have grown in just a few months. But how are you here? Where's your mommy, huh? Where's Natalie?" He asks looking around before his eyes landed on Lulu and Starr again. "Why do you have my son? Where is his mother? Starr, did Natalie ask you to keep him?"

"Yeah, in a way," Starr stalls.

"What do you mean in a way?" He questions suspiciously. "What's going on here? Why is Liam here without Natalie? She would never allow him to be in the same town as I am without her being here, too. The last I heard, she and Liam were in Llanview. How did he end up here with the three of you?"

"That's what I was about to tell you." Dante says motioning for John to take a seat again. Once John sits with Liam still in his arms, Dante continues. "Natalie is here at the hospital. They have her in one of the exam rooms now."

"Why? Is she ok? What happened? I have to go see her." John starts to get up but Dante puts a hand on his arm stopping him.

"Patrick Drake is in with her now and he should be out soon. You need to wait til they are done checking her out. They need room to work on her if necessary."

"Why would they need to work on her? What's wrong with her?" John asks looking at the three of them catching the look of guilt and worry on their faces. "One of you need to tell me what's going on before I tear this place apart looking for her."

"You need to tell him, Dante." Lulu says

"I was just about to tell him before the two of you interrupted us. John if you will sit back down I'll explain everything to you."

John takes his seat again, settling Liam on his lap once more. "Alright, now tell me what's going on with my girlfriend."

"Lulu and I were walking on the docks earlier today when we heard a woman screaming. We ran to see what was going on and we found a woman and a baby being attacked by two men. The baby was on the ground crying and the woman was fighting the men like crazy to protect her child."

"It was Natalie, wasn't it?" John asked.

"We didn't know at first." Lulu answered. "She was having a hard time staying conscious and all she cared about was making sure her little boy was ok. She was able to tell us to call Starr to take care of the baby before she passed out. We called an ambulance and they brought her here. Liam and I rode in the ambulance with her. When Starr got here she told us who they were."

"But I had already figured out who they were." Dante said. "I recognized them from the picture you have on your desk. That's how I knew to call you."

"Was Liam hurt?" John asks looking over his son.

"I think he was just bruised, but I promised his Mother that I would look after him, so I thought it would be best if a doctor checked him out." Lulu explained.

"How bad was Natalie hurt?"

"We're not sure yet. She grabbed her head like she was in pain before she passed out. Like I said earlier, Patrick Drake is in there with her now. Hopefully he will be out soon to tell us how she is." Dante said.

"Why would she have you call Starr? I know you are her family, Starr, but you have never been close as far as I know. I understand why she wouldn't call me cause she mad at me right now. But why wouldn't she call her family?" John asked.

"That's what I asked." Starr spoke up for the first time. "I couldn't figure out why she wouldn't call Jessica. I know they had some trouble last year, but Mom said they seemed to be getting along good now. And you know how close she is to her family. They would do anything for her just like she would for them. So why would she call me instead of them?"

"I don't know," Dante said. "But she insisted that they not be called. She acted like she was scared to death that they would find out where she and the boy are."

"None of this makes any sense. Why would she even be in Port Charles? She has a restraining order to keep me away from her in Llanview. Why would she come to a town where she knows I'm staying and she wouldn't have her family here backing her up in keeping me away from them? " John asked bouncing a fretting Liam on his knee while he thought for a moment. "Did you catch the guys who did this to her?"

"Yeah," Dante answered. "But I haven't been able to question them yet. I was more concerned about getting her the help she needed, so I called a couple of uniforms to take them in. But they had to be brought here first. She gave as good as she got."

John let out a small laugh. "That's my girl. She always has been a fighter."

"Let's just say I wouldn't want to tangle with her." Dante chuckles. "I have a feeling she could have taken them if she was only fighting one, but the both of them were to much for her."

"Do you know who they are?" John asks.

"No, but I intend to find out as soon as we find out how Ms. Banks is."

"I think I can help you with that." Doctor Patrick Drake interrupts Dante. "Or I could if any of you were her family."

"Natalie is my cousin." Starr steps forward. "Can you tell me what's going on with her?"

Patrick shrugs. "She's awake and talking. She has a slight head injury but everything looks ok for now. We are going to be running more test to make sure there is nothing more serious then a mild concussion going on."

"Do you think she could be seriously hurt? Cause if she is I don't feel comfortable making decisions for her." Starr says.

"I don't think so. But given her most recent medical issues I want to err on the side of caution." Patrick explains.

"What medical issues?" John asks. "Starr, what is he talking about?"

"I don't know John. I haven't talked to Natalie since I moved here and Mom told me that she hasn't been seen a lot around Llanview lately. We just thought she was hiding out after her breakup with you, kind of licking her wounds. Mom never said anything about something being wrong with Natalie. Has she not said anything to you?"

"She's not exactly talking to me right now." John tells her before turning to Patrick. "What are these medical issues you are talking about?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you that without her permission and she specifically asked me to not talk to anyone about it." Patrick explains.

"Look Doc, I understand about the whole doctor/patient confidentiality thing." John starts, standing up to face Patrick with Liam in his arms. "But we are talking about the Mother of my son. I think I have the right to know what's going on with her."

"Maybe so, but all I know is that if she wanted you to know she would have told you. And if she decides you should know after all, then she has to be the one to tell you. It would go against all medical ethics for me to tell you." Patrick says.

"Listen, Doc, I know all about medical ethics. My brother is a doctor and I know how he is about keeping a patient's confidence. But I have been shut out of her life and my son's life for months now because I made a huge mistake and I don't intend to let that continue."

"Well, you will have to take that up with Ms. Banks." Patrick explains. "But if you are who I think you are, you might just get the chance."

"What do you mean?" John asks.

"Are you John McBain?" Patrick asks.

"Yeah, I am. Why?"

"Cause she's asking for you." Patrick tells him. "She asked me to call you and I was going to after I talked to Dante and checked on her son for her. But since you are here already, you can go see her. She's in the exam room down the hall. Just don't upset her. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to check on the test results for my patient." Patrick walks off leaving a stunned John in his wake.

John stares down the hall at the room Patrick said Natalie was in, knowing all he had to do was walk to the room and he could see the woman he loves for the first time in months. But for some reason he couldn't seem to get his feet to move. He stared down the hall in a trance until he felt a hand on his arm. With fear in his eyes, he turns to face Starr.

"John, are you ok?" Starr asks.

"Yeah, I don't think so. I finally have the chance for something I have wanted for months and I can't seem to get myself to move down the hall."

"Why, John? You two have loved each other forever. Why can't you face Natalie?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'm afraid to hear what she has to say. Maybe I'm afraid that once I talk to her I'll have to accept that its truly over between us once and for all."

"That doesn't sound like the John McBain I know." Starr says with a smile on her face. "The John McBain I know isn't afraid of anything."

John smiles back at her. "Yeah, nothing but Natalie. She the only one that could really destroy me." John sighs as he tries to get his courage up. "But its time I man up, like Natalie would say. I need to go see her. But I think I'll take Liam here with me so maybe she won't yell at me as much. What do you think, Buddy? Do you think you being there will be enough to protect daddy from mommy?" He asks his son while making funny faces at him, causing Liam to giggle. "Yeah, I don't think so either. But what do you say we go and find out? Yeah, let's go see mommy." He says as he starts to move down the hall.

Before he could walk off though, a nurse walks over to them. "We're ready to check on little Liam now."

When John seemed torn between going to see Natalie and going with Liam, Lulu stepped forward. "I promised his Mother I would make sure he was ok, so why don't Starr and I go with Liam and you can go see Natalie? It might be better that way. I promise we won't leave his side."

"She right, John." Starr told him. "There's no telling what Natalie might have to say to you. Liam doesn't need to be around if you two start to fight."

"Alright. But one of you come and get me if they find something wrong with him." John tells them, handing Liam over to Starr.

"We will." Lulu promises.

John leans over and kisses Liam on the top of his head. "I love you, buddy. Don't worry, I'll see you as soon as I'm done talking to your Mommy. You be good for Starr and Lulu."

"Don't worry, he will be just fine." Starr assures him.

"Well, while you guys are gone, I'll see what I can find out about the two low lives that attacked Natalie and Liam."

John nods and walks off. After he's gone Lulu looks over at Dante. "Why didn't you tell him?"

"I just figured it was better if he found out on his own." Dante explained.

"Find out what?" Starr asks

"Natalie is pregnant and I don't think John has a clue about it." Lulu explains as they walk towards the exam room with Liam.

John stood in front of the door to Natalie's room trying to gather his courage. Taking a deep breathe he opens the door and walks into the room. Standing there for a moment he looks at the beautiful redhead laying on the bed with her eyes closed. Frozen for a moment he drinks in the sight he had missed for so long. Deciding he needed to see her eyes, John cleared his throat. "Hi, Natalie."


	8. Chapter 8

Here's the next chapter. Sorry for the delay. Thank you for all the reviews. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 8

Natalie's Room

Natalie laid on her bed caressing her stomach, trying to calm her nerves about seeing John for the first time in months. She couldn't understand why she was so nervous. This was what she wanted ever since she woke up from her coma. She wanted to see John and find out what he had to say for himself about cheating on her. But now that the moment was at hand, she was terrified about how he would react when he found out about the baby. She was almost afraid to tell him. What if he wasn't happy about it? It wasn't like they were in a good place in their relationship right now. Were they even in a relationship anymore? She just didn't know. What if he was still with that little tramp? Then the new baby would just mess up his life. Of course there was always the chance that he just wouldn't care. He didn't seem to care about Liam that much anymore or he would have been fighting to see him. What if he was so wrapped up in his new life that he just couldn't be bothered taking responsibility for the new baby or Liam? Was it possible that he had changed so much in just a few months? And if he had, was he still someone she wanted in the lives of her and her kids?

Natalie sighed as she leaned back onto her pillow and closed her eyes. All of this uncertainty and speculation was causing her head to hurt again. She needed to just stop thinking about all of this and relax like the doctor told her to. It wasn't like she could do anything til John showed up anyway.

John stood outside Natalie's room trying to gather his courage to go in. Taking a deep breathe, he walks into the room and watches her lie on the bed with her eyes closed. Needing to see her eyes, he clears his throat. "Hi Natalie."

Natalie's eyes flew open at the sound of his voice. When she heard the door open she had thought that it was the nurse here to give her some more tests so she hadn't bothered to look up when she heard someone enter the room. She knew that John would come to the hospital but she really didn't expect him to be here that soon. Sitting up in the bed and turning her head towards him, she faces him hesitantly. "Hello, John. I'm surprised Dr. Drake was able to find you so fast."

"He didn't," John says as he moves away from the door and into the room to the end of her bed. "I was already here. Dante had called me when they brought you in."

"Dante? I think that was the name of detective who helped me and Liam. Why would he call you?"

"He works with me at the PCPD. He must have saw your picture on my desk and when you wouldn't or couldn't tell him your name he called me to see if I knew you."

"I asked them to call Starr so she could take care of Liam."

"They called her. She was in the waiting room with Dante and Lulu when I got here. Why didn't you ask them to call me? Liam is my son. I should be the one taking care of him." John says with a little anger seeping in his voice.

"I didn't know if you would want to or care enough to take care of him. I didn't know if you would want to be bothered with him. How is he? I dropped him when those idiots knocked me down. Was he hurt? Have you seen him?"

"He's fine, just a little bruised I think . I saw him for a little bit before I came in here. Starr and Lulu are getting him checked out. They will come and tell us if there is anything seriously wrong with him. I would have went with him, but I was on my way in here when they called him back to see the doctor. But just so you will know in the future, taking care of my son in not a bother to me. I love him. I would do anything for him. How could you think I wouldn't?"

"Cause you haven't been there for him lately. You haven't seen him in months, John." Natalie defends herself.

"You got a restraining order against me, Natalie!" John practically shouted at her. "I couldn't come see him or I would risk losing him forever. What was I suppose to do, Natalie come back to Llanview, burst through the doors at Llanfair, and demand to see my son? That would have given you and your father all the ammunition you needed to keep me away from Liam forever."

"You could have fought, John. You know the law better then anyone I know. You had to have known that there was no real basis for the restraining order. Any good lawyer should have been able to get it rescinded within a week of it being issued."

"I am fighting it! My lawyer has been trying for months to get a court date to have it declared null and void. The one time we were able to get even a preliminary court date, it was postponed indefinitely. I have been doing everything I can to make it where I was able to see Liam again, but we have been stalled every way we have turned. I even took a job here in Port Charles just to prove I'm fit to be his parent, even though all I wanted was to go back to Llanview."

"Well you must not have a very good lawyer, because it only took Nora a little over a week to have it overturned." Natalie informs him snidely as she wonders about his choice of words. What did he mean by we? Did this "we" mean that him and this Sam person were now a couple and trying to take Liam away from her together?

"The restraining order has been lifted?" A shocked John asked. Natalie nodded yes. "Why? How? When did you do this?"

"I told Dad to have it rescinded only a couple of weeks after it was issued, but he didn't do it. I began to suspect that he didn't little less then a month ago but didn't know for sure until about two weeks ago. I got Nora to work on making it go away. It took her a little bit of time because dad had paid off a judge to have it issued in the first place. But I talked to Bo yesterday and he said it was rescinded two days ago. Your lawyer should have been informed yesterday. Didn't she tell you?"

"I haven't talked to her in a few days." John stalled wondering why Alexis hadn't called him. "But why wouldn't you know it was still in place? Surely you know that as soon as the order keeping me away was gone I would be home to you and our son."

"How would I know that John? You didn't seem to have a problem staying away for weeks or months at a time before the order was given so you could fight your demons. You even refused to come home when I called you on the phone and begged you to come because Liam was sick and I needed you. I had been up for two days straight with him while he was fighting that fever. I was exhausted and sick myself and I just needed you, the man I loved and who claimed to love me, Liam's father. I needed you by my side. But do you remember what you said? Cause I do. I remember every last word of that conversation. You said, 'Damn it Natalie! Don't do this to me. We talked about this. You know why I have to be here.' And I did know. I knew why you needed to be here, but what I didn't know is why you couldn't seem to understand why I needed you with me and Liam. You knew I needed you and you couldn't be bothered to come home then. So why would I think you would come home when you had obviously moved on to your new little slut?"

John was stunned silent by her outburst. He hadn't realized that his absence from her life before she saw the picture had been so hard on her. He had never really stopped to consider how she felt about him leaving her behind to fight his demons. Before he could form the words to explain himself the door to her room burst open and Dr. Drake rushed in followed by Epiphany.

While the two had been arguing they had failed to notice the spikes of the blood pressure monitor Natalie was hooked to. But Epiphany had noticed at the nurse's desk and had informed Dr. Drake. Worried they had rushed to the room to check on their patient. "What is going on in here? I thought I told you to not upset her." Dr. Drake fired at John as he rushed past him to Natalie's bed. "Are you ok? You need to remain calm especially now. How's your head feeling? Are you experiencing any pain?" He asks while shining a light in her eyes and Epiphany checked her vitals.

"A little," Natalie answered. "My head started hurting before John came in."

"Why didn't you call for me?" Epiphany asked. "I would have given you something for the pain."

"It was only hurting a little bit and I had hoped I could make it a while without taking anything. I don't have the pills with me they were giving me for the headaches before I left Llanview and I was afraid the medicine you would give me would knock me out. Dr. Drake had promised to call John, so I knew he was coming and I didn't want to be out of it when he got here." Natalie explained.

"You still should have called me," Epiphany said. "What Dr. Drake has prescribed you for pain is mild due to your condition so it more then likely wouldn't have knocked you out. It would have just helped to ease your pain."

"And that is important to keeping your blood pressure down." Dr. Drake agrees with Epiphany. "Whenever you are in pain it can cause a spike in your blood pressure. The same can happen when you become to upset. You know you need to stay calm because of your condition. Well that goes double with your blood pressure. It needs to stay down to an acceptable level to prevent dangerous complications from developing."

"I know." Natalie sighs. "I understand how important it is to keep my blood pressure down and I promise to try to stay calm but with what is going on right now, I'm just a little bit emotional."

"Yeah, I can see where you would be but you have to keep in mind that the calmer you are the better things will progress with your condition." Patrick tells her gently, trying to still keep John in the dark about the baby in case Natalie hadn't told him yet. "Has Dr. Lee come in yet?" Natalie shakes her head no. "Epiphany, will you go see what's keeping her? She needs that test as soon as possible."

"Yes, Doctor." Epiphany says before she leaves the room.

"What condition? What test?" John asks looking at the two of them. "Ok, one of you need to tell me what's going on with Natalie now!"

"I've already told you, Mr. McBain, that it was up to Ms. Banks to discuss her medical condition with you. Now I need to ask you to leave so I can discuss Ms. Banks latest test results with her."

"Sorry, Doc., but I'm not going anywhere. What ever is wrong with her effects my son and as his father I have a right to know."

Seeing that Patrick was about to argue back, Natalie intervened. "Its ok Dr. Drake. John can stay."

"Are you sure? Cause I can call security and make him leave if you don't want him here."

"No its alright. He needs to find out about what's been going on for the last few months and he might as well hear about it while I do."

"Hear about what? What's going on Natalie?" John asks confused.

Ignoring John, Patrick turns to Natalie. "Ok, I got some of your test results back and they answered some of my questions. You said you had a car accident about two months ago and sustained some sort of head injury but you weren't sure what. Is that right?" After Natalie nods yes, Patrick continues. "Were you unconscious from the moment of impact until you woke up from your coma?"

"When the accident first happened I was a little out of it but not unconscious. I clearly remember being in the car after impact. I vaguely remember them cutting me out of the car and the trip to the hospital in the ambulance. I was in and out most of the time but I do remember having a conversation with my sister Jessica. But no one ever told me what was going on. I remember them telling me that I was going into surgery but no one ever told me why. And I don't remember anything else until I woke up two months later."

"Wait a minute, what car accident? When were you in a car accident?" John asks in shock. "And what's this about you being in a coma for two months? Natalie, I have known you for ten years and you have never been in a coma in all that time, not even when Marty threw you off the roof. When were you supposedly in a coma?"

"After you left to be with your little slut here in Port Charles, John. Now shut up and let me and the doctor talk, that is if you want to stay in here at all." Natalie told him heatedly before turning back to Patrick. "What were you able to find out?"

"Your scans show a previous brain injury, possibly a subdural hematoma. Without your records there is no way to know for sure but I think your brain probably swelled and you were probably put in a drug induced coma to help reduce the swelling."

"Drug induced? But wouldn't the drugs hurt the..." Natalie broke off before she could say the word baby.

"No, it shouldn't have hurt anything but we will make sure to have it checked out. And from what I saw on your scans it seems as if your previous injury is healing well."

"But what about headaches and weakness I have had lately?"

"You told me earlier that they had gotten bad only this week. Is that right?"

"Yes," Natalie nods. "But this is really the first week I have tried to do anything other then walk around my room in my Mom's house."

"Well I think you have just tried to do to much to fast. But I do want to keep you for a few days to keep an eye on you to make sure everything is healing like it should. And I would also like permission to get your medical records so I can see for myself just how severe the original injury was."

"That could prove difficult. From what I can gather from my family, I was only in the hospital for a couple of days after my surgery. After that my father had me moved home with a private nurse and doctor. You might can get the records from Llanview Hospital, but if I know my father, he won't let Dr. Smith give you the others."

"You just let me worry about that. If he gives me any problems I'll just sic Epiphany on him. She has a way of getting things done."

Natalie smiles at him. "If that has to happen, you be sure and let me know. I would pay money to see my dad taken to task by a nurse." She laughs before turning serious again. "Dr. Drake, what about what happened today? Did it cause any more damage?"

"You have a mild concussion, but I think you will be just fine. The main concern is the old injury and making sure it has healed properly. But I don't want you to worry. You just rest and try to stay as calm as you can. They will be moving you to a room soon and Dr. Lee will be in here to run that other test we talked about. I'll come to see you again before I go home for the night." Patrick shakes her hand before he leaves the room.

John still stood at the end of Natalie's bed, stunned by all the information he had just heard. This was impossible to believe. None of it meshed with what he already knew to be true. He had to wonder exactly what she was trying to pull over on him. He hated to think that of her but with everything that had been going on for the last few months he wasn't sure he even knew her anymore and that hurt him to even think it. "Do you want to tell me what's going on? Cause none of this makes any sense."

"What's there to understand? You heard what I told Dr. Drake. I was in a car accident and it put me in a coma for two months. I woke up about a month ago. That all seems pretty simple to me."

"It would be simple to me too, if it really happened, Natalie. Why don't you just tell me the truth now instead of letting me discover it on my on? And you know I will. I always do eventually."

"Yeah, when someone buys you a clue. But sorry to disappoint you John, I am telling the truth this time. You heard what the doctor said. My test picked up an old injury. How am I suppose to have faked that?"

"I don't know but you had to. There is no way you could be in a coma for two months without me knowing."

"How would you know? You haven't exactly been around for the last few months."

"Someone would have told me. I have seen and talked to both Tea and Blair several times over the last three months and they haven't said anything about you being in a car accident. And then there's Bo. He's my friend..."

"But he's my uncle." Natalie interrupts. "Who do you think he would show the most support for with what is going on between us? My dad asked him to keep it quiet. And I don't know why Blair and Tea didn't say anything about it but I would guess they were never told. Dad made sure that no one but immediate family knew and most of them he didn't allow to come see me."

"There's no way he could keep something like this quiet. You're a Buccannan. You sneeze funny and Blanca Morales has it as the top story on her program. If you were in a car accident she would have created special news bulletin to report it and there would be no way your dad could stop it. "

"Well he did! John do you really think that I would lie about being in a coma? I thought you knew me better then that."

"So did I. And my gut is telling me that I still do. My gut is telling me that you wouldn't lie about something this serious. But the evidence is telling me something else."

"What evidence?"

"The letter."

"What letter?" Natalie asked with a confused look on her face.

"The letter you wrote and sent to me through the lawyers. The letter you used to break my heart. The one where you told me how you had met someone else and moved on."

"That's crazy! I have NOT written you a letter and I have definitely NOT moved on."

"Don't..." John starts to only be interrupted again when the door opened.

Both turned to face the door as an Asian looking doctor walked in the door followed by Epiphany pulling an ultrasound machine behind her. "Hello, Ms. Banks, I'm Dr. Kelly Lee." The doctor moves to the bed and shakes Natalie's hand before moving out of the way so Epiphany could set up the ultrasound machine. "I'm here to make sure your baby is ok."

"Baby? What baby?" A stunned John asks.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Both turned to face the door as an Asian looking doctor walked in the door followed by Epiphany pulling the ultrasound machine behind her. "Hello, Ms. Banks, I'm Dr. Kelly Lee." The doctor moves to the bed and shakes Natalie's hand before moving out of the way so Epiphany could set up the ultrasound machine. "I'm here to make sure your baby is ok."

"Baby? What baby?" A stunned John asks.

Natalie ignored John as she concentrated on the doctor. "Its nice to meet you, Dr. Lee. Thank you for doing this."

"Oh, its no problem. I'm just doing my job and that is to make sure you and this little one are both ok. Can you tell me when your last checkup was?" Dr. Lee asks.

"Check up for what? What baby are you talking about?" John asks again, confused.

"Almost two weeks ago. I had Dr. Vivian Wright of Llanview Hospital check me out before I made my plans to leave town. She was the ob I used for my first pregnancy." Natalie continues to ignore John.

"This is your second child?" She asks and Natalie nods yes. "How long ago was your first child born and were they and complications?"

"My son Liam is 22 months old. He was a breech birth but the doctor said I healed well from the delivery."

"I'm going to need you to sign a release so we can get your records from your previous pregnancy and this one."

"Natalie what's going on? You're not pregnant." John once again tries to get answers.

"Actually I am." Natalie tells him pulling her hospital gown tight across her stomach so he can see her slight baby bump before turning back to Dr. Lee. "I'll sign the release for the records of my pregnancy with Liam but I only saw Vivian twice with this baby. She checked me out at the hospital after I had my accident the day I found out I was pregnant and then right before I left Llanview. The rest of the time I was cared for by a Dr. Smith but it will probably be difficult to get my records from him. He works for my dad and I doubt that dad will let him give you my records."

"Why did you change doctors with this pregnancy? Did you have issues with your old ob during your first pregnancy?" Dr. Lee asked.

"No, its not that. I like and trust Dr. Wright more then any other doctor I've seen. And if I had a choice she would have been my ob this time, but my dad made my decisions for me after my car accident. He decided that it would be better to have just one doctor treat me for everything that was going on with me even though Dr. Smith wasn't an ob."

"Well I will want to give you a thorough examination to make sure everything is ok after I do the ultrasound. Do you have anything in particular you are concerned about?"

"I don't know if Dr. Drake told you or not, but I was in a coma for about two months. Dr. Drake couldn't say for sure, but he thought it might have been a drug induced coma due to a head injury I suffered. I'm afraid the drugs might have hurt the baby."

"We will be sure to check that out. We will be doing some blood work on you and, if you stay under my care until the baby is born, there will be other test I would like you to have. But we will discuss that after we take a look at this little one." Dr. Lee moved to help Epiphany with the machine.

John moved closer to the head of Natalie's bed barely able to contain the anger surging through him. "You're pregnant? You're really pregnant? You come here pregnant by another man and you say you haven't moved on! What do you call sleeping with someone else if it isn't moving on? Or was it just another one night stand like it was with Brody?"

"How dare you throw Brody in my face! You know none of that would have happened if you would have just been man enough to fight for what you wanted to begin with instead of hiding first behind Marty and then Kelly! Of course your mistakes don't matter like usual, just mine do! But I'm sorry to disappoint you this time John. I'm not the one who was sleeping around. And I didn't have a one night stand either."

"Yet you are the one who is pregnant. So who is the father? If it wasn't a one night stand, then what did you do? Did you sleep with one of your exes? There's only two that I know of that are still alive. So which one is the lucky daddy to be, Chris or Brody?"

"Neither, John. I haven't seen either of them in almost a year. I've only been with one man this year and that's you. This is your baby John. Congratulations you are going to be a daddy again."

"My baby?" A shocked John asks. "That's not possible. We haven't been together in four months."

"Well that works out well then cause I'm four months along."

"No, no you are wrong. None of this is true. It can't be." John said in disbelief. "If you were having my child you would have told me. You may be mad at me right now, may even hate me a little, but there is no way you would keep me from knowing about us having another child, especially after what happened with Liam. You wouldn't have waited four months to tell me you were pregnant. You would have told me the moment you found out."

"What part of I WAS IN A COMA FOR TWO MONTHS don't you understand? I couldn't tell you! The day I found out was the day I had the accident and then I was in a coma. I came here to tell you that and everything else as soon as I was able."

"Will you stop with this coma stuff? I would have known if you were hurt that bad. Someone would have told me. You need to stop making up lies to convince me that I am the father of the child you are having with the man you wrote me about in the letter. I don't know what happened between the two of you, but you can't keep his child from him just like you can't keep Liam from me."

"There is no other man and I never wrote you any letter! Don't be laying your cheating ways on me! There is only one cheater in our relationship and that's you!"

Before their argument could escalate further, Dr. Lee interrupted. "The both of you need to calm down. Its not good for the baby and quite frankly you are giving me a headache. Now if you want to stay for the ultrasound, Mr. Mcbain, then I suggest the two of you table this argument until later."

"Dr. Drake has already told him twice to not upset her, so it might be best if he leaves anyway, Dr. Lee." Epiphany says.

"I think you might be right, Epiphany. Mr. Mcbain can you please wait outside?"

"I'm not leaving!" John states empathically. "If there's even the slightest chance this is my baby then I intend to be here every step of the way."

"Don't make me call security," Dr. Lee tells him.

"No, let him stay." Natalie breaks in before things can get ugly. "I want him here. If one day soon he decides to finally accept that this is his baby, then he will never forgive me if he misses out on seeing his child for the first time."

"Ok, he can stay." Dr. Lee relents after a moment of hesitation. "But I will have no more accusations or outbursts from either of you or I will make him leave and have him banned from your room for the duration of your stay here. Is that clear to both of you?" She stares between them until they both nod. "Ok then, let's get started." John moved to the head of the bed and close to Natalie so he could see the screen while Dr. Lee started to moved Natalie's hospital gown up to expose her belly. Natalie shudders as Dr. Lee puts the cold gel on her stomach. "Sorry, I always forget to warm it. Before we take a look at the baby, lets check its heartbeat first." When she turned on the machine and placed the wand on her stomach, the sound of the heartbeat filled the room to the amazement of both of the parents. "Nice strong and fast heartbeat, just like we want it. Now let's see what this little one looks like." She flips a switch on the machine and a shadowy image appears.

"Is it ok? Its so fuzzy I can't make anything out about it." Natalie said.

"This should help." Dr. Lee adjusted a few knobs and the picture cleared up as she started to point out images on the screen. "Alright, there's the head. And the spine is right there. If you look right here you can see the little hands and down here are its feet. Development looks good, just right for how far along you are. By the looks of this, I would say you are about seventeen weeks along."

"Seventeen weeks, huh? That would put conception as the last week of July, right? Probably around the 25th, right?" Natalie asks Dr. Lee as she cuts her eyes over at John.

"I can't tell you the exact date, but from what I see here I would say the last week of July is about right for the date of conception. And from the look of things everything is on track for you to have a healthy baby sometime around the first of May. We will figure out the exact due date at your first appointment and I want to do some additional test, but for right now everything looks ok. I do want to examine you a little further, so Mr. McBain I will need you to step outside."

"I'm not leaving! If this is my baby I'm not going to miss out on anything." John practically yells.

"She's going to do an internal exam, John. So get out!"

Epiphany came around the bed to grab John and start to push him toward the door. "You can wait in the hall. It will only take a few minutes and I'll come get you as soon as we are done." She pushes him out and shuts the door.

John backs up against the wall, unable to fully comprehend everything that had happened since he walked into the hospital. He had finally got to see Natalie and Liam for the first time in months, only to find out that he was going to have another baby he didn't know anything about. And then to be hit with all of this stuff about Natalie being in a coma, which still didn't make any sense to him. How could the woman he was madly in love with be in a coma for two months and he not know anything about it? How had he became so cut off from his life in Llanview that he wouldn't know when Natalie was in trouble? And why wouldn't Bo or any of his other so called friends from home tell him what was going on? How could everything in his life go so wrong so fast and how was he going to fix it?

John was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even realize the door to Natalie's room had opened until Epiphany spoke. "You can come back in now, Mr. McBain."

Moving away from the wall, John walked back into the room and to Natalie's bedside. "Is everything ok?"

"Everything looks just fine." Dr. Lee said. "I want to run some more test as soon as you are feeling better. But for now I think everything is ok."

"Is one of the other test you want to do an amino?" Natalie asks.

"Yes it is, but its going to have to wait a couple of months until you are a little bit stronger." Dr. Lee tells her.

"Good, then we can do a paternity test at the same time." Natalie tells her before John has a chance to ask for one.

"We can discuss that later. But for now you need to try your best to remain calm and relax. I understand Dr. Drake is going to keep you for a couple of days. I want to see you no later then a week after you are released. I am going to treat this like a high risk pregnancy until I can rule out any after effects of any drugs you may be given while in the coma. Just make an appointment with my nurse before you leave the hospital. We are going to leave you so you can rest, but feel free to call us if you need anything." Dr. Lee and Epiphany go out the door leaving John and Natalie alone.

Natalie looks over at John. "Did you hear what she said? Conception date is around the 25th of July. Do you remember what we were doing on the 25th and the few days before and after? I do. I had just got back from London, you had got back from here, and we spent a few days in bed except for the times we had to get up to care for Liam. And then on the 25th Mom took Liam and we stayed in bed the whole day. That was when this baby was conceived. Unless of course you still think I was cheating on you just like you did on me."

John sighs, running a hand through his hair. "I don't know what to think any more. No I don't believe that you were cheating on me before Todd sent you that stupid picture and I left town. But I didn't believe you could move on so fast either until I got your letter in the mail. A letter you are denying even writing. Now I hear all this stuff about you being in a coma. There's a new baby that is apparently mine cause the dates fit. My head is spinning so bad right now with this overload of information that I can't concentrate on anything. I think I'm more confused right now then I have ever been in my life."

"I didn't write you a letter, John. But I'm just to tired to try to convince you now. In this moment, all I want to do is relax, be thankful that this baby is ok, and to see Liam. I have to know if he's alright. Can you go get him for me?"

John nods yes, but before he can move to leave a knock sounds at the door as it opens and Starr pokes her head in the room. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but there is a little guy here who wants to see his mommy." Starr pushes the door open wider and moves into the room to be followed by Lulu carrying Liam.

Natalie's face lights up at the sight of her little boy. "There's my baby. Come to mommy sweety." Natalie holds out her hands, motioning for Liam to come to her. Lulu walks to the bed with a squirming Liam and hands him to his mother. "How are you, huh? Did those bad men hurt you? Mommy's sorry she dropped you. What did the doctor say? Is he ok?" She asks looking up at Starr.

"Yeah, he's just fine. The doctor said he just has a few bruises. She said he was just shaken up a bit but should be just fine in a few days."

"Thank God," Natalie sighs. "I was so afraid when I felt him leave my arms and fall to the ground. But who knew you could bounce like your mama." Natalie says as she tickles a giggling Liam before looking up at Starr again. "Thank you so much for taking care of him for me. You were the only person I could think of when I needed to call someone to watch him. Hope I didn't mess up your life"

"Don't worry about it. Its ok. I was glad to do it. But I wasn't the one who took the most care of him. That would be Lulu here. The two of them have really bonded." Starr explained.

"Lulu," Natalie mutters as she turns to face the woman she had not yet officially met but had helped her so much today. "You are the one who helped me and Liam on the pier. It was you and some man."

"My husband Dante. We were just glad we got there in time before something worse could happen. But what about you? Are you going to be alright?"

"Yeah, I should be. They are going to keep me for a few days just to make sure, but they expect everything to be just fine. Thank you so much for all your help. You stayed with Liam and took care of him when you didn't have to. I'll never be able to repay you." Natalie said tearing up.

"Don't worry about it. I was glad to help. Besides I have enjoyed spending time with Liam. He is so much fun and has charmed everyone he has met." Lulu says.

John had been standing quietly in the corner while the women talked with everything that had happened running through his head and he knew he needed o get out of the room for awhile. "Uh I'm going to talk to Dante for a minute while you are talking to Lulu and Starr. I'll be back in a bit." He tells Natalie as he moves to the door and walks into the hall.

After John leaves, Natalie reaches out and takes her cousin's hand. "Starr I need you to help me with something and I need it done before John gets back."

Emergency Room

John walks into the waiting room looking for Dante. Spotting him talking to an officer outside a cubicle he walks over to him. "How's everything going with the case Dante?"

Dante turns to face John. "I didn't hear you walk up. How is Natalie doing?"

"She's going to be ok I think. There's a bunch of stuff going on and its going to take some time for both of us to sort it out. But I really don't want to think about that right now. I need to get my mind off of it for a little while. So answer my question and give me something else to think about."

"I don't know anything new as of yet. The suspects have been cleared medically and the officers are just about to transport them to the station." Dante told him as the curtain opened and the officers led the suspects out in handcuffs.

John looked up as the two people that attacked his girlfriend and child walked out of the room and surprise filled his eyes. "Well, well ,well. If it isn't Mr. Bluestein and Mr. Swartz. You two are certainly a long way from Llanview. Would either of you like to tell me why Clint Buchanan sent you to beat up my pregnant girlfriend."

Ok there's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it. Sorry it took so long. Let me know what you think


	10. Chapter 10

Finally the next chapter. I owe everyone a huge apology for the delay. I let myself get distracted with something else and couldn't seem to get into writing. But I finally did. Please let me know what you think. Thanks again for being patient and reading my story.

Chapter 10

Natalie's Room

After John leaves, Natalie reaches out and takes her cousin's hand. "Starr I need you to help me with something and I need it done before John gets back."

Starr looks at Natalie confused. "Of course I'll help you in any way I can. But why can't John be here when I do it?"

"Because he's not going to like what I'm about to do and would try to stop me."

"I don't know you very well and I know I shouldn't put myself in your business," Lulu says. "But if this is going to upset John then why do it?"

"I have to. I will do anything I have to if it will keep my son safe and I don't really care who I have to walk over to do that, even if its John. I'm even willing to make a deal with a devil to protect my son. That's why I need you to call your father and have him come see me."

Stunned, Starr stares at her cousin. "But you hate my dad. And he hates you. Why would you go to him for help? Is this about the picture he sent you of John kissing Sam?"

"Oh believe me, I have a few things to say to him about sending me that picture, but that's not why I want you to call him. I need his help because he's the only person I know in this town that can play just as dirty as my dad. Listen, Starr. Yes, I know Todd hates me. And I have to tell you the feeling is very mutual. But right now he is the only person who can help me." Natalie explains.

"Won't John help you?" Lulu asks. "I admit I don't know him very well. But from what I have seen and from what Dante had told me, he's a stand up kind of guy. He seems to be someone who takes his responsibility seriously."

"He does," Starr agrees. "Natalie, you and I both know that John is the person to have around in a crisis. If he knew you or Liam were in some kind of trouble and needed to be protected he would never leave your side. He would give his life for you. You of all people know that."

"I used to know that." Natalie said shaking her head. "In the entire ten years I have known John there was never a doubt in my mine that I could count on him when I needed him. Even in the times we were apart, I knew he would always have my back. But now I just don't know. If someone had come to me in say June or even July of this year and said to me that I would be asking Todd for help instead of John, I would have laughed in their face. But after everything that has happened over the last few months, I just don't know if I can trust him anymore."

"But you can trust my Dad?" Starr asks in disbelief. "Don't get me wrong, I love my Dad. But that doesn't stop me from knowing who he is. He won't help anyone except for maybe one of his kids unless there is something in it for him."

Natalie laughs a little snidely. "Oh, believe me I know better then to trust him. But if I know Todd, then he has contacts in this town that can help me with everything I need. And as far as him not helping me unless there is something in it for him, don't worry about that. I have something I think is going to get him to do exactly what I want. So what do you say? Will you call him for me?"

Starr studied her cousin for a moment before she took out her phone and started dialing. Putting the phone to her ear, she waited a few moments for someone to answer. "Hi, Dad. I need you to do something for me."

Emergency Room

Needing a few moments away from Natalie, John had went in search of Dante to find out what was going on in the case against the men who attacked Natalie. He found Dante waiting outside the cubicle where the two men who attacked Natalie were being treated, waiting for them to be transported to the station. As they waited the curtain opened and the suspects were led out in handcuffs. John looked up as the men walked out of the room and surprise filled his eyes. "Well, well ,well. If it isn't Mr. Bluestein and Mr. Swartz. You two are certainly a long way from Llanview. Would either of you like to tell me why Clint Buchanan sent you to beat up my pregnant girlfriend?"

"Wait a minute. Do you know these two?" Dante asks.

"Yeah I do. You see I've ran into Mr. Bluestein and Mr. Swartz, or as they like to call themselves Mr. Blue and Mr. Black, before. They have done some work for Natalie's father in the past."

"Really? What kind of work?" Dante asks.

"I could never prove it of course, but they beat the crap out of a guy named Robert Ford on the orders Clint Buchanan." John explains. "Clint felt like Ford had taken advantage of Natalie's twin sister Jessica and needed to pay for it."

"He did take advantage of her, but you could never prove we had anything to do with what happened to him, Lieutenant." Mr. Swartz speaks up. "We had an alibi."

"Yeah its amazing what having all the money in the world can buy you. But you didn't answer my question. Why would you try to beat up Buchanan's pregnant daughter?"

"Hurt her?" Bluestein snorted. "Have you looked at the two of us? We're not here just to confirm our good health. She could have broken my knee and his eyes may never be the same." He said pointing at his friend.

"What, are we suppose to feel bad for you because you decided to attack a woman who could fight back?" John asks barely containing his fury at the situation. "You put a pregnant woman in the hospital with a possible head injury. She could have lost the baby. You attacked her while she was holding a baby. Liam could have been hurt!" While he was talking, John kept moving closer and closer to Bluestein until he was close enough to grab him by his collar and push him back against the wall.

"Easy, easy there John." Dante pulls him back away from the suspects. "You need to calm down. You don't want to give them a chance of getting out of this by charging you with police brutality."

"They attacked my family." John bites out, trying to get his rage under control.

"I know that, John. But you have to control yourself if we are going to find out why they attacked her." Dante let go of John and turned back to the two perps. "Now would either of you like to explain why you came from Llanview to Port Charles to attack Ms. Banks and her son?"

"We didn't attack her," Swartz started.

"You didn't attack her?" John's anger was making him almost shout. "Then why is she in this hospital with a possible head injury? Why did she almost lose our baby? You could have hurt her or Liam."

"Stop trying to lay this thing on us." Bluestein said defiantly. You can't prove we did anything."

"I think we can." Dante said. "My wife and I saw what was happening on the docks. Even before we got there we could hear her shouting at you to leave her and her son alone."

"Is that what Clint Buchanan sent you here for, to hurt his daughter? I never would have thought that of him. He always seemed to be a man who wanted to protect his children, especially his daughters." John told him snidely.

Swartz sighed in resignation. "No one was suppose to be hurt. We were only trying to take her home."

"Well it seems like she didn't want to go from the looks of you. From what Natalie said she wants to stay here for awhile. Why were you so insistent that she go with you? Why would Clint Buchanan send you all the way here to take his adult daughter some place she didn't want to go?" John asks.

"Because you're here." Bluestein smirked. "He doesn't want you anywhere near his little girl. Can you blame him after what you did to her? You don't deserve to have a woman like that. And if Mr. Buchanan has anything to say about it, you won't ever have her in your life again. So don't get to comfortable with having her and your son around cause he will find a way to get Ms. Natalie away from you forever."

John stepped up into his face. "Is that right? Clint is going to make sure I never see my girlfriend and children again, right? Well, I don't think I have to worry about him taking them from me in the near future. Cause I don't think either of you are brave enough to tell him you put his daughter in the hospital. I think the both of you will gladly sit in jail for a couple of days to try to come up with a way to explain how it was you let tiny pregnant woman get the best of his two best guys. So I think I have a few days to come up with a plan to protect my family." Stepping back he turned to face the officers waiting to take the suspects to jail. "Get these two out of here. Make sure you follow proper procedures. I don't want them getting off on a technicality."

"Yes, sir." The officers said as they led the prisoners away while John glared at the men who were trying to help take his family away from him.

Dante watched the man who was fast becoming his friend as well as his boss and saw the rage mixed with confusion on his face. "John, are you ok man?"

John sighs. "I just don't know. I feel like my life has been turned upside down and I just don't know why. I mean I know part of it is my fault cause I messed up and I know it. But how can what I did mess up everything that was so great in my life. There is something else going on here and I just can't figure out what it is."

"Did Natalie not tell you what was going on?"

John shakes his head. "She didn't have much time to tell me anything. All I know is that she was apparently in some kind of accident that put her in a coma and she is four months pregnant with my child. But none of that meshes with the letter I got from her around the first of October. I'm so confused right now and the only person who can give me the answers I need can't seem to talk to me without the two of us yelling at each other."

"Maybe I can help. I still need to get her statement and she might feel more at ease answering questions from me."

"I don't know, but maybe. Let's go." John and Dante start walking back towards Natalie's room.

Natalie's Room

Starr was on the phone with her father. "Hi, Dad. I need you to do me a favor. Yeah, I know you would. Can you meet me at the hospital? No, no. Calm down Dad, I'm fine. Tell Carly that Michael is to. Yes, I'm sure. I just need you to meet me at the emergency room. I'll explain everything when you get here, I promise. Ok, I'll see you soon." Starr hung up the phone before looking at her cousin. "He's on his way. I hope you know what you're doing."

"Trust me I do. And please don't tell John about this. I don't need him coming down on me about this right now." Natalie says.

"Don't worry. I won't tell anyone." Starr promises.

"Who are you not telling what?" John asks as he and Dante come into the door to hear Starr's last words.

"Oh, Starr was just promising me that she wouldn't tell anyone in Llanview about what happened. I don't want Mom to worry and everything would just be better if Dad didn't find out anything about what happened right now."

John not quite believing her decides to let it drop for now. "Natalie, this is detective Dante Falconari. He has a few questions he would like to ask you about what happened today."

Natalie turns her attention to the man who came in the room with John. "You're the man who helped me this morning. Thank you."

"That's not necessary, I was just doing my job. Ms. Banks can you tell me exactly what happened this morning."

"Please call me Natalie. As far as this morning goes, I'll tell you what I can. Liam and I had just gotten into Port Charles this morning. We had stayed in a hotel just outside of Port Charles last night and left early because I wanted to get here as early as possible. I parked my car at this little diner near the pier, I think the name was Kelly's but I'm not really sure. I decided to take Liam for a walk on the dock to see the water before we went to get something to eat. We were on the dock for just a little bit when I decided to leave so we could get something to eat and find a place to stay. Before I could leave, though, I was grabbed from behind. The man said his name was Mr. Black and it was time for me to go home while the other one reached for Liam who was walking beside me. I jerked away from him while sneaking my pepper spray out of my pocket and keeping them away from Liam. I sprayed Black with the pepper spray in the eye, picked Liam up and started to run. But the other one grabbed me before I can get away. I kicked him in the knee and he went down. I started to run again but he caught me by the foot causing me to fall. Not wanting to fall on Liam I turned so I would land on bottom. When I hit the ground I hit my head and dropped Liam. The man, I think his name was Blue, went to get Liam and I picked up a board from the dock and hit him with it a few times. Then I went to get Liam but Black grabbed me before I could. That was when the two of you walked up and you know what happened after that."

"Did you know these two men?"

"I have never met them, but I know they worked for my father. They came to get me on his order."

"Can you tell me why your father would send them after you?"

"I can, but I think that is something I should discuss with John first in private."

"Alright then, they can go outside with Liam and you can tell me now." John tells her.

"I don't want to do it here, John. There are to many interruptions. When I tell you everything that has happened over the last few months I want to be able to do it without someone interrupting. Besides, you are bound to say something that upsets me and if you cause my blood pressure to go up again the nurse just might have you banned from my room permanently."

"Natalie I need to know what's going on."

"And you will as soon as I get out of here. But right now, I need you to take care of Liam for me." She tells him while rubbing the back of her now sleeping son. "He needs to have something to eat and a bath. We don't have a place to stay yet, so can he stay with you until I get out of here and find us somewhere to stay?"

"He's my son Natalie. Of course I'll take care of him."

"Good, thank you. He has a bag of clothes in my car. The keys are in my purse, where ever that ended up."

"Oh, its right here." Dante spoke up handing her the purse. "The officers found it on the dock and gave it to me."

"Thank you," Natalie said as she got her keys out and handed them to John. "The car is a green Corolla. Hopefully it will be easy for you to find."

John looks at her confused. "What happened to your BMW? I thought you loved that car."

"I wrecked it John! Or do you still not believe me about the coma?"

"Honestly, Natalie, I don't know what to believe. I still don't see how you can have a car wreck, almost die, be in a coma for two months and me not know anything about it. Someone would have told me. As far as I know, I am still your emergency contact. By law the hospital would have had to call me before they informed anyone else. I am down to make any of your medical decisions that you are unable to make just like you are mine. We made the decision to do that when we moved in together because we thought it would be more secure for Liam if his parents were an united front on any and all decisions."

"Yes, John, I know. I was there, remember? And that was the way things stood until you decided to cheat on me. A decision you didn't ask my opinion on, by the way. When we took out the restraining order, the judge issued an order removing you as my medical contact. He felt you shouldn't have rights to make any of my decisions if there was a chance you were a danger to me. So when the accident happened my parents were called and Dad started making all the decisions regarding my health and care. HE decided to keep it quiet and HE decided to not call you. Now you can choose to believe that or not cause right now I don't even care any more. All that matters to me now is that Liam and this new baby are kept safe. And I will do anything to make that happen, even if it means trusting the lying, cheating, unfaithful man you have become!"

The room sunk into an uncomfortable silence as John finally realized just how much he truly hurt Natalie. Not wanting to intrude any more on a family matter, Lulu walks towards Dante. "I think maybe we should go. Natalie I'm glad you are ok and I hope to get to know you better if you stay in Port Charles for awhile."

Natalie takes a deep breath trying to calm the sudden rage that came upon her and smiled at Lulu. "Yeah, I do to. I don't know how long I'll be here, but I would like to spend some of that time getting to know you. Thanks again for all your help."

"We were glad to do it," Dante tells her. "I'll let the Chief here take the rest of your statement. I hope everything works out for you."

As Dante and Lulu walk out the door, Epiphany walks in. "Ms. Banks we are ready to move you to your room now. Does this cute little guy go with us?" She asks smiling at the sweet little boy asleep on his mama's chest.

Natalie smiles down at her son, rubbing his back lightly. "No, his daddy is going to take him home for the night."

"I don't want to leave you alone." John tells her.

"I'll be fine. Liam needs to get out of here for awhile. He needs to eat and I'm sure you want to spend some time getting reacquainted with your son. So take him home with you, but please bring him back tomorrow. I don't want to miss spending Thanksgiving with my son. I'll be in room..." she trails off looking over at Epiphany.

"Room 602," Epiphany tells them.

"Room 602. Will you bring him back to see me tomorrow?" She bends over to kiss Liam bye on the head.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to spend Thanksgiving any other way then with my family." John reaches down and takes Liam into his arms. "Come on little guy. Let's go get us something to eat and let your mama rest." He walks to the door and turns to look at Natalie before he leaves. "We will see you tomorrow. Call me if you need me. Starr are you coming?"

"No, I'm going to hang with Natalie for awhile, at least until they get her settled. My flight doesn't leave til later, so I have time."

"Ok, we'll see you later." He goes to leave to only stop and turn to face Natalie when she calls his name. "Yeah, what it is?"

"Do me a favor. Don't have him around the little tramp. Please don't have her over while you have him."

John sighs, shaking his head. "I promise it will be just him and me." He turns and walks out the door.

Epiphany brings a wheel chair over to the side of the bed. "Let's get you upstairs. Ms. Manning, you can meet us up there."

"Ok, that's fine. Natalie I'll make sure that person we talked about earlier finds you." Starr goes out the door hoping her cousin knew what she was doing.


	11. Chapter 11

Here's the next chapter. This chapter ends in kind of wierd place because this is only half of the original chapter. It was originally extremely long so I decided to cut it in half and make it two chapters and where I ended it was the most logical place. You should get the other part as chapter 12 soon. Any way please let me know what you think. Oh by the way I need to make sure everyone knows these characters are not my property, I own nothing. This is just for fun. Thanks again for reading.

Chapter 11

Emergency Room

Starr stared at her phone while she waited for her dad, wondering about everything that had happened today. It had been a crazy day. First she had to deal with everything going on with Michael. Then Lulu called her to come to the hospital, scaring her half to death that something had happened to her dad or Michael. But when she gets here she find out her cousin had been attacked and was in the hospital. The day just got stranger after that. She had no idea of the things that had been going on with Natalie. Her mom had told her things were weird right now with the Buchanans, but she never even hinted that things were as bad they seemed. She knew that Natalie was having problems with John, obviously since he was here in Port Charles and she was in Llanview with Liam, but she had no clue about her being in an accident or a coma. None of it made any sense to Starr. How can anyone, even a family as powerful as the Buchanans, keep something as serious as someone being in a car accident and almost dying a secret. The pregnancy would have been easier to hide because she was early enough along that all she had to do was to stay out of sight as much as possible and wear baggy clothes when she had to go out in public. Starr knew that very well from her on personal experience. But to keep a life threatening situation from the entire town when it involved a prominent citizen was almost impossible to believe. Though, according to Natalie, that was exactly what happened.

Sighing, Starr shakes her head in disgust as she puts her phone in her purse and looks over at the elevator doors. She wasn't exactly sure what happened to Natalie but it must have been pretty bad to make her cousin want to turn to her dad instead of John. Natalie and Todd had never gotten along, not since her dad had given Natalie to Mitch Laurence to save Blair. Natalie had never fully forgiven Todd for that, not that Starr blamed her, though. Sure Todd didn't know that Mitch planned to cut out Natalie's heart, but he knew that Mitch Laurence was a psychopath who had kidnaped Natalie as a child and kept her away rom her family for years. And for him to willing give her over to the man who had caused her so much pain was unforgivable for Natalie. So why would she insist on seeing Todd now? Unable to come up with an answer, Starr moves towards the elevator as the door opened and her dad walks out with Carly. "Glad you could come Dad. I was beginning to think you had decided not to."

"I'll always come when you call." Todd tells her. "Now what's going on? Why are you in the ER? Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine. Its..."

"Is it Michael?" Carly interrupted. "Is he ok? I was with you father with you called and I had to come with him to make sure the both of you are alright. I hope you don't mind?"

"Its alright. And as far as I know Michael is still with the Quartermaines. He's not the reason I called."

"Then what is it?" Todd asked. "You had me scared to death. I thought something was seriously wrong with you."

"I'm sorry I scared you, but I needed to get you here and I knew you wouldn't come if I told you who was here. There is someone here from Llanview who wants to talk to you." Starr explains.

"Who? Is it you Mother? Is Blair here? Jack? Danni?" He asks but looks confused when Starr shakes her head. "Then who? I know it can't be Tea. She still doesn't want anything to do with me cause she thinks I had something to with the baby switch."

"No, its not Tea. No matter what may be going on between you and Tea, you would still come if she called. And before you ask, its now Aunt Vicki, Jessica, or little Sam either."

"Well, then, there's no one else in Llanview I care about spending any time with. So I'm going to leave then. Carly and I were kind of in the middle of an important discussion. I'll see you later." He turns away from her and starts towards the elevator."

"Wait!" Grabbing his arm, Starr pulls him around to face her again. "You're not going anywhere except upstairs to see your niece."

"My niece? You said that it wasn't Jessica. It couldn't possibly be Bree. She wouldn't be here without her mama or grandma. So that only leaves Sarah. I haven't see her since she was a child and if she's anything like her Mother I don't care to see her again. That covers all of the nieces I know about."

"Not all of them. You left out the one you probably owe more then anyone else except for maybe Tea."

"I don't owe her anything." Todd says shaking his head. "After what she did to Jessica I don't owe her the time of day."

"What happened between her and Jessica is between them and doesn't involve you. You owe her for all the crap you did to her. And the least you can do is go see her when she asks for you."

"I never did anything to her she didn't deserve." Todd defends.

"Oh really? So she deserved to have you turn her over to the man who was going to cut her heart out, did she? What could she have possibly done to deserve that? And don't bring up the things she did to Aunt Vicki and Jessica when she first came to town. She was young then and was acting on some false information she was given by Alison Perkins. Besides Aunt Vicki and Jessica have both forgiven her for that so you can't still hold that against her."

"Maybe not but that still doesn't mean I have to have anything to do with her now. And the heart thing was a long time ago too. I was trying to protect your Mother so you can't hold that against me just like I'm not suppose to blame her for what she did when she first came to town."

"Ok, then, we won't bring the heart thing up. But what about what you did to her just recently? And don't try to act all innocent, you know exactly what you did to Natalie just like I do." Noticing Todd's confused look, Starr through her hands up in disgust. "The picture, Dad! The picture you sent to Natalie of John and Sam kissing."

"Wait a minute. The niece you two are talking about is John McBain's girlfriend, right?" Carly asks.

"Yeah that's right." Todd answers before turning back to Starr. "And I'm not responsible for that picture. Heather Webber took it. Besides it was John who was cheating in the first place. I just felt like she deserved to know her boyfriend was being unfaithful."

"So you made sure she found out in the worst possible way. If you had just kept out of it and let John tell her in the first place, then they might have just found a way to work everything out. But instead John came here and Natalie stayed in Llanview with Liam. She had to face a bunch of stuff by herself because of it. Now she's here needing to talk to you and you owe it to her to listen to what she has to say. And don't try to argue with me, cause you are going to see her. She's family, even if you refuse to acknowledge it and its time you start treating her like it."

Needing backup, Todd looks over at Carly. "Hey, don't look at me for help. I agree with Starr. I always thought you sending your niece that picture was dirty and I told you that at the time you did it. If your niece needs to talk with you, I would say that's the least you owe her."

"And look at it this way, Dad. If Natalie truly needs help and you refused to help her, then how would Aunt Vicki react if something bad was to happen to her. She would never forgive you." Starr needles him.

Todd sighs. "Fine, I'll see her, but I'm not making any promises."

"That's all I'm asking, just try to help her if you can." Starr leads the way onto the elevator.

John's Apartment

John watched with a smile on his face as the son he had missed so much slept on his bed. He couldn't believe it had been four months since he had seen him. Longer then that really if you take into account the amount of time he had voluntarily spent away from his family while he was off fighting his ghosts. He couldn't believe he had let things get as bad as what they did. And he couldn't fool himself into believing that most of what happened wasn't his fault. That his decision to stay in Port Charles for as long as he did instead of going home to his family had been the catalyst of it all. It had really hit home when Natalie was telling him about how much she needed him when Liam was sick and he had refused to come back to Llanview. If he had just came home like Natalie had begged him to do, then he would have never gotten closer to Sam and that stupid kiss would never have happened. And if the kiss hadn't happened, then he wouldn't have been away from his family for four months. He would have been home to watch Liam make new discoveries everyday. He would have been there when Natalie found out she was pregnant again. "A baby, a new baby," John smiles. He couldn't believe how happy he was about Natalie being pregnant again. When she had first told him at the hospital his first instinct was to not believe the baby was his. Despite that instinct, though, he couldn't deny that the instant he heard that she was pregnant that he knew without a doubt the baby was his, no matter how much he had tried to convince himself otherwise. He could feel it, just like he always felt Liam was his even when he thought there was a test saying he wasn't. And what few doubts he might have had at first were quickly erased the moment he found out how far along she was. Natalie would never have cheated on him before she was sent the picture, so if she was four months along the baby was definitely his and had been for the past four months. Four months he had missed.

The pregnancy wasn't the only thing he had apparently missed in the last few months. If Natalie was to be believed, then he had missed her almost dying and being in a coma. That was just so hard to believe. How could all this stuff happen to his girlfriend and he not know anything about it? Even with them having problems right now, he still should have known. Someone would have told him, wouldn't they? Well, he needed some answers and he knew just who to call to get them. Placing a kiss on Liam's head he moves from the bed to the window, takes out his phone and dials the number of a person he still hoped to call a friend.

"Hello," the person answers the phone.

"Bo, its John."

"John, how are you doing?"

"I'm good, I guess. Other then the fact that my son and pregnant girlfriend suddenly show up after months of not being allowed to see or speak to them."

"Good, they made it. I was beginning to get worried when I didn't hear from her. She was suppose to call me everyday, but she's been gone for a week and I've only heard from her twice. How are they? Is Natalie ok?"

"Liam is fine. He's here with me actually. Right now he's sleeping on my bed."

"And Natalie? Is my niece ok?"

"If you call being in the hospital ok, then she's just fine."

Bo cursed under his breath. "What happened? Is she alright?"

"She should be in a few days. They are keeping her for observation to make sure she and the baby I knew nothing about are both ok. She was attacked by two men on the docks just after she got in town. And you'll never guess who they were."

Bo sighs. "I think I might have an idea, but why don't you tell me anyway."

"It was Bluestein and Swartz, or as they prefer to be called Blue and Black. The two men your brother likes to use to make people do what he wants. It seems they were trying to make Natalie come back to Llanview with them. Do you have any idea why he would send them after his own daughter?"

"Now why do you think I would know that?" Bo stalls.

"Because you don't seem all that shocked that they were here after Natalie. You need to cut the crap, Bo. You know what's going on and I need to know what it is." When Bo doesn't say anything, John almost shouts in frustration. "Bo you need to tell me everything you know. I need answers so I can protect my son and girlfriend!"

Bo sighs in resignation. "Alright, I don't know much but I will tell you what I do. About three months ago, I received a call about an accident involving a red BMW. It seems the driver had wrapped the car around a tree and was still trapped in the car. When I heard about it I rushed to the scene cause I knew that Natalie drove a red BMW and that she had been very upset over the last few weeks since she got the photo of you cheating."

"I wasn't cheating! It was just one kiss!" John practically shouts before looking over at a restless Liam on his bed. "Ok, that doesn't matter now. Besides the only person I need to talk with about that is Natalie. So this accident, when was it exactly?"

"Right around the last of August or the first of September just a couple of weeks after you left. But like I said, I rushed to the scene cause I knew Natalie drove a red BMW and had been upset for a few weeks. When I got there my suspicions that it was Natalie were confirmed. She was trapped in the car, in and out of consciousness. It was clear that she had some sort of head injury. We got her out of the car and rushed her to the hospital. I went with her cause I didn't want to be alone and called the family on the way."

"Why didn't you call me? You of all people know what she means to me."

"Yeah, I thought I did before Natalie told me about you and that other woman. Besides the last time I even mentioned you to my niece she told me in no uncertain terms that she never wanted to even hear your name again. So anyway, I called the family. When we got to the hospital they rushed her into an exam room and that was the last time I was allowed to see her until Natalie got in touch with me a few weeks back."

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't you see her for two months?"

"Clint wouldn't let me. Like I said, they rushed her into an exam room the minute we got her to the hospital. They wouldn't let me follow so they could have some room to work on her. I hadn't been waiting outside the exam room long when Clint, Vicki, and Jessica showed up. Clint immediately took charge. He started making all medical decisions for Natalie. When they came out and told us she needed brain surgery, it was Clint who signed the release form."

"What was exactly wrong with her? Why did she need surgery?"

"I don't know or understand all the medical terms but it had something to do with bleeding on the brain. They said if she didn't have the operation she would die. So they took her to the OR. We knew it was going to be a long surgery and I couldn't bear to wait around the hospital for word so I left to go back to the accident scene to investigate it. I couldn't stand the thought of just waiting around for them to tell us she had died. I had to have something to keep my mind off of how worried I was so I left. When I came back to check on her she was out of surgery and in the ICU. Jessica told me that the surgery had went good but it was still touch and go because her brain was swelling and it was going to be a couple of days until they knew for sure if she was going to be ok. When I was asked to see her, I was told that only immediate family was allowed in her room. I pointed out that I was her favorite uncle so I was family. But they said only Clint, Vicki, and Jessica were allowed to see her. I thought it was some new rule the hospital had come up with, but I found out later that Clint had told them not to let anyone else in."

"Why? Why would he want to keep everyone away from her?"

"I don't know. But he was adamant about it. He even went so far as to hand pick a doctor and nurse to care for her and they were the only ones from the hospital allowed in the room. If I had to guess, he wouldn't have even let Vicki and Jess near her if he thought he could get away with it. So, anyway, after they refused to let me see her I left telling Jessica to call me if anything changed with Natalie. About four days passed and I hadn't heard anything I went back to the hospital. Only when I got there, she wasn't there. Come to find out, Clint had signed her out and took her home."

"But she had just had major surgery! Was she ok? Shouldn't she have been in the hospital for longer?"

"You would think so, but apparently Clint didn't think so. After I left the hospital, I went to Llanfair. But when I got there I wasn't allowed in the door. Clint stopped me. He told me I wasn't allowed to see Natalie, that she needed her rest. That pattern continued over the next two months. I never once made it past the front door. And as far as I know, no one else did either. I wasn't even allowed to talk to her. Every time I called some woman I didn't know would answer and tell me that Ms. Natalie was resting. And I'm not the only one who wasn't allowed to talk to her. Rex called me several times to complain. Each time one of her brothers would call from London, they were told by Clint that Natalie was just fine but was to busy taking care of Liam to talk to them. And Clint was the only one they were allowed to talk to. They were never allowed to talk to Vicki or Jessica either, other then to say hi."

"Some woman I didn't know answered Natalie's phone every time I called her too. She refused to allow me to speak to Natalie, said that Natalie had found someone who was more suited for her then I am. Why was Clint so intent on keeping everyone away from Natalie?"

"Your guess is about as good as mine. All I know is that no one but her parents, sister, nurse and, doctor was allowed to see her from right after she had her accident until the day Jessica helped her leave Llanfair."

"Natalie claims she was in a coma for two months. Is that true?"

"That's what Jessica and Natalie both said. But like I said, I truly don't know anything about what was going on with her for the past few months. I wasn't allowed to see her and no one volunteered any information. The few times I was able to talk to either Jessica or Vicki all they would say is that Natalie was fine, that she was getting better everyday. They would never tell me what was wrong with her, just that she should be well soon."

"You said Jessica helped her leave Llanfair. You make it sound like she had to sneak out."

"That's basically what happened. From what the girls told me, it seems like Clint was virtually keeping Natalie a prisoner. She wasn't allowed to see anyone outside the house. And her visits with the ones inside the house were limited, even with Liam."

"He kept her from Liam? Why?"

"That seems to be the question of the hour and I don't have the answer to it. All I know is that Jessica asked me to find a cabin for her and the kids to stay in for a couple of days, said she needed to get away fo awhile. Come to find out, she needed to the cabin for her and Natalie to hide in until they could get everything ready for her to come here. I don't know how they got away from the house, they wouldn't tell me that. But once they did get away, they went to make sure the baby was ok, then went to the cabin and called us. They told Nora and I everything that had been going on and asked us to help. I've got to tell you man, we were shocked by what they told us. You see, we didn't even know that Natalie was pregnant. But as soon as we heard what Clint had been doing we agreed to help. I got her a car, money and identification. Nora went to work on getting the restraining order removed. They stayed in the cabin for about a week until everything was ready, then Natalie left with Liam to go to you in Port Charles."

"That still doesn't explain why Clint would send his goons after her to try to force her to come home."

"I know it doesn't and I can't tell you anything that would. Though the girls insisted that Natalie needed to get as far away from Llanview as she could before Clint found out she was gone."

"And now with him sending Black and Blue after her, it were seem her fears were justified. Well I don't care what Clint wants, he's not taking my family away from me now."

"If that's how you feel about it, then why haven't you been fighting for them?"

"I have been. When I first received the restraining order, I tried to call Natalie but Clint answered. He of course wouldn't let me speak to her and all he would say was I was getting what I deserved. So I decided to try the legal route. I wanted to come home but my lawyer convinced me not to. We both knew I couldn't possibly stay away from my family. She started fighting the restraining order right away, but we never seemed to make any headway."

"That doesn't make much sense." Bo says absently.

"What doesn't?"

"That your lawyer couldn't break the restraining order. Nora didn't have any problems. She had it done in a little over a week. Why was it so hard for your lawyer to get anything done?"

"I don't know. I will find out, but right now I can't really concentrate on that. But I can promise you this, no matter what I have to do, I'm not going to lose Natalie and my children now that I have them back." John turns to stare at a sleeping Liam as he closes his phone.


End file.
